.: 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


WO  RMS 

FOB  SALB    WHOLESALE  AND  RETAIL,  BY  GEORGE  H.  EVANS, 

Granville,  Middletown,  N.  J. 
(The  retail  prices  are  annexed.) 


The  Bible  of  Reason,  2  vols. 
By  B.  F.  Powell, 

Taylor's  Diegesis, 

Lawrence's  Lectures,  2 

The  Correspondent,  com. 
plete  in  5  vols.,  each,  1 

Discussion  on  the  Existence 
of  God,  and  the  Authenti- 
city of  the  Bible,  between 
Origen  Bachelor  and  Ro- 
bert Dale  Owen,  2  vols.,  1 

Vice  Unmasked;  An  Essay 
on  the  Influence  of  Wealth, 

The  Philosophical  Dictiona- 
ry of  M.  De  Voltaire, 

Volney's  Ruins,  and  Law  of 
Nations, 

Paine's  Political  Works, 
new  edition,  2  vols.,  3 

Paine's  Theological  Works, 
1  vol.,  (new  edition,)  1 

The  Age  of  Reason,  new 
edition,  with  Likeness, 

Jefferson's  Works,  4  vols. 

The  Elements  of  Modern 
Materialism, 

Ecce  Homo  !  1 

Palmer's  Principles  of  Na- 
ture, 

View  of  the  Discussion  be- 
tweenOwen  andCampbell, 

Good  Sense.  By  Mirabeau, 

Frances  Wright's  Lectures, 

The  Demurrer.  By  Thomas 
Herttell, 

Spiritual  Mustard  Pot, 

A  Review  of  the  Evidences 
of  Christianity.  By  Ab- 
ner  Kneeland, 

A  few  Days  in  Athens, 

Queen  Mab.  By  Shelley, 

Hewitt's  History  of  Priest- 
craft, 

Jefferson's  Manual, 


Manual  on  Health,  31 

Gouge  on  Banking,  25 

Rights  of  Man  to  Property,  1  25 
Rights  of  Woman,  75 

The  Yahoo,  75 

Law  of  Libel,  Liberty  of  the 

Press, &c.  By  Dr.  Cooper,  75 
Life  of  Ethan  Allen,  50 

Letter  to  Professor  Silli- 

man,  by  Dr.  Cooper,  50 

Eternity  of  the  Universe,  31 
Jehovah  Unveiled,  25 

Exposition  of  Calvinism,  by 

Dr.  Cooper,  9 

The  Fabrication  of  the  Pen- 

taterfch  Proved,  13 

Doubts  of  Inridels,  13 

Scripturian's  Creed,  13 

Oration  on  Paine's  Birthday,  13 
Orthodox  Bubbles,  13 

Essays  on  Public  Education,  6 
Frances  Wright's  Lectures, 

each  6 

Considerations  for  young  men,  6 


Thoughts  on  Religion, 
00  Dialogue  between  Epictetus 
00      and  his  Son, 

I  Christian  Mysteries, 
75JTo   any  Member  of    Con- 
gress, (on  Prayers,) 


The  God  of  the  Jews  and 

Christians, 
The  Fable  of  the  Bees, 


Third  General  Epistle  of  Peter,  3 
The  Character  of  the  Bible,  2 
The  Christian's  Creed,  2 

St.  Peter's  Holiday,  2 

Free  Enquirer's  Prayer,  2 

New  York  Monthly  Philo- 


44 

38]     sophical  Library,  12  Nos. 

38|     for  2  50,  or  26  for  5 

| Likeness  of  Voltaire, 
75  Likeness  of  Pahner, 
dOlLikenesB  of  Paine, 


Messengers    of  Truth,  or 

Polish  Chiefs,  (2  vols.)            75 

Pills  for  the  Pious,  a  se- 

Kneeland's National  Hymns,  25 

ries    of  Liberal  Tracts, 

Baron  D'Holbach's  System 

Vols.  I.  and  II.,  each,         31 

of  Nature,  (abridged,)          13 

Popular  Tracts,  edited  by 

Dialogue  of  the  Gods,               6 

Robert  Dale  Owen,              44 

Byron's  and  Southey's  Vi- 

The Comet,  2  vols.,  contain. 

sions  of  Judgment,               13 

ing  various  Lectures   of 

Kneeland's  Defence  against 

the  ;  Rev.    Robt.    Taylor 

the  charge  of  Blasphemy,     38 

and  of  the  "  Lady  of  the 

Kneeland's  Speech, 

Rotunda,"     in    numbers 

N.  Very's  Forty  Christians,     13 

$3  00,  bound,                  3  50 

Elegant  Extracts,                       6 

Apocryphal    New    Testa- 

Political  Catechism,                  4 

ment,                                     75 

A  Life  of  Paine,                        6 

Useful  Knowledge  for  the 

Hard  Times,  and  a  remedy 

Producers  of  Wealth  —  by 

Therefor,                                 2 

William  H.  Hale,                 19 

Moulton's    Report    in    the 

Address    to   the    Working 

New    York    Legislature 

Men  of  New  England  — 

against  the  employment 

by  Seth  Luther,                    19 

of  Chaplains,                          6 

Six  Essays  on  Education, 

The    Mode    of   Protecting 

from  the  New  York  Daily 

Domestic     Industry  —  by 

Sentinel,                                  6 

Clinton  Roosevelt,               20 

Q£j-   George  H.  Evans  has  for  sale  all  the  liberal  works  published  in 

the  United  States,  on  the  terms  of  their  respective  publishers,  and  will 

procure  a  supply  of  every  new  liberal  work  that  may  appear.  Orders  from 
the  country  for  books,  wholesale  or  retail,  will  be  promptly  attended  to. 
LIBERAL  TRACTS. 

VOL.  I.  of  the  Liberal  Tracts,  mentioned  in  the  above  list,  is 
composed  of  twenty  distinct  publications,  on  as  many  different 
subjects,  by  some  of  the  most  celebrated  authors,  among  whom 
are  Dr.  Cooper,  R.  D.  Owen,  Thomas  Herttell — Palmer,  Burden, 
Stewart,  &c. 

VOL.  II.,  contains  about  the  same  number  of  Tracts. 

The  LIBERAL  TRACTS  are  designed  as  antidotes  to  the  mental 
poison  diffused  throughout  the  community  by  means  of  what  are  termed 
religious  tracts.  They  contain  from  two  to  twenty  pages  each,  and  are 
sold  separately  or  collectively  on  the  following  terms  :  1000  pages  for  §1, 
450  pages  for  50  cents,  or  100  pages  for  12£  cents. 

JUST    PUBLISHED, 
THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE, 

PREFACED   BY   A    VIEW    OF 

THE  MORAL  STATE  OF  NATIONS. 

The  "  Revelation  of  Nature"  was  originally  published  at  the  epoch  of  the 
great  revolution  of  France.  It  was  intended  as  a  continuation  of  the  "  Sys- 
tem of  Nature,"  and  to  exhibit  a  code  of  morals  founded  on  ihe  immutable 
principles  of  Reason,  Truth,  and  Humanity.— Price,  $25  for  100  conies  315 
for  50,  310  for  30,  $5  for  14,  retail  50  cents. 

*«*The  above  works  are  sold,  also,  by  Messrs.  Matsells,  94  Chatham  street, 
and  John  Morrison,  cor.  Chatham  and  Roosevelt  streets,  New  York  :  Ransom 
Cook,  Saratoga  Springs  ;  John  Turner,  Philadelphia:  J.  Q.  Adams,  35  Wash- 
ington street,  Boston ;  Joseph  Lawton, Dover,  N.  H. 

%*  Books  ordered  of  Evans,  delivered  in  New  York  free  of  charge. 


NATURE  nursing  in  vain  her  warring  children,  benighted  by  the  artifice* 
of  Priestcraft  and  Politics ;  Philosophy  consumes  tlieir  screen  in 
order  todisplay  the  universality  of  transmuiatioiis  : 

For  Self  and  Nature  link'd  in  one  great  frame, 

Shows  true  Self-love  and  Nature's  as  the  same. 

Eternal  matter  to  one  centre  brings 

Men  changed  to  beasts,  and  insects  changed  to  kings. 

Who  dares  with  force  on  Nature's  chain  to  strike, 

On  man  or  insects,  jars  the  chain  alike 

On  Self,  which  changing  never  quits  the  chain 

In  life  or  death,  transmits  or  joy  or  pain. 


; 

THE 

MORAL  STATE 

.,-'-* 

NATIONS, 

OR 

TRAVELS 

OVER    THE 

MOST  INTERESTING  PARTS  OF  THE  GLOBE, 

TO    DISCOVER   THE 

SOURCE  OF  MORAL  MOTION  ; 

COMMUNICATED 

To  LEAD  MANKIND  THROUGH  THE  CONVICTION  OF  THE  SENSES 
TO  INTELLECTUAL  EXISTENCE,  AND 
AN  ENLIGHTENED  STATE  OF  NATURE. 

Speculative  or  Abstract  Truth  is  a  beacon  on  the  shore  of  Life,  to 
direct  the  tempest-tost  vessel  of  Humanity  in  the  storms  of  Er- 
ror and  Prejudice,  to  the  haven  of  Happiness,  Intellectual  Exis- 
tence, and  an  Enlightened  state  of  Nature. 

Practical  Truth  is  the  pilot  Wisdom,  who  holds  the  helm,  and 
directs  the  tacks,  which  impelled  by  the  zephyr  of  Reform,  ob- 
liquely approximates  that  beacon,  and  guards  the  vessel  from  the  - 
boisterous  hurricanes  of  precipitate  Innovation  and  Revolution, 
which  propelling  the  vessel  of  Humanity  in  the  face  of  the 
storm,  wrecks  it  on  the  shoals  of  Error  and  Prejudice. 


ID  the  Year  of  Man's  retrospective  'Knowledge,  by  astronomical  Calculation 

5000. 
[Year  of  the  Common  Era,  1790.] 

Granville,  Middletovrn,  N.  J.    Reprinted  by  George  H.  E^ans.    1837. 


r//  v 

5s- 


ADVERTISEMENT. 

IF  ever  book  possessed  paramount  claims  upon  the  intel- 
lects and  feelings  of  the  human  family,  as  being  identified 
with  their  freest  exercise  and  fullest  enjoyment,  it  is  the  work 
with  which  they  are  now  presented.  Its  author,  the  Modern 
Pythagoras,  travelled  the  globe,  like  his  worthy  prototype, 
not  to  gratify  vanity,  avarice,  or  luxury,  but  to  study  and  ad- 
vance humanity.  For  the  accomplishment  of  his  magnific 
project,  he  exerted  a  power  of  thought  equally  profound  and 
sublime,  a  courage  absolutely  independent,  the  spirit  of  truth 
in  its  intrinsic  radiance,  and  a  beneficence  pure  and  perfect, 
coextensive  with  all  sensitive  existence.  This  universal  be- 
neficence, the  sum  and  substance  of  moral  duty  or  virtue,  he 
established  on  his  favorite  and  fundamental  proposition,  That 
every  sentient  being  ever  has  been,  in  portions,  and,  in  por- 
tions, ever  will  be,  a  constituent  part  of  its  great  integer,  Na- 
ture, conscious  of  its  present,  but  necessarily  oblivious  of  its 
past,  and  ignorant  of  its  future  combined  modes  of  existence. 

The  something  termed  mind,  soul,  spirit,  intellect,  is  either 
itself  a  distinct,  subtile  agent,  material  or  essentially  anala- 
gous  to  matter;  or,  else,  it  is  an  innate  property  of  matter,  at 
times  latent,  and  at  times  under  particular  combinations,  sen- 
sibly exhibited.  This  last  hypothesis,  (that  sentience  and 
intelligence  are  the  results  of  matter's  organization,)  has  been 
adopted  by  the  author,  who  proves  that  the  necessaiy  immor- 
tality, now  universally  conceded  to  the  physical  properties 
and  capacities  of  matter,  is  equally  an  attribute  of  its  moral 
and  intellectual  powers  and  susceptibilities.  But  under  the 
first  theory,  (that  intellect  itself  is  a  divisible  element,)  its 
eternity  is  no  less  certain  and  perhaps  more  obvious;  for 
Nature,  by  every  fact  and  phenomenon,  uniformly  tends  to 
demonstrate,  and  never  to  contradict,  this  fundamental  truth. 
Sympathy  and  intelligence  are  as  much  immortal  as  gravity 
or  cohesion.  Man,  collectively,  is  the  moral  ruler  of  the 
moral  world,  and  moulds  it  to  enjoyment  or  suffering. 

This  Bible  of  Nature,  then,  exhibits  a  stupendous  scheme 
of  PANTHEISM;  not  a  contradiction,  but  a  confirmation,  of  all 
that  is  good  in  existing  morals,  on  every  branch  of  which  it 
abounds  with  original  and  lucid  views.  Assuming  the  subject 
of  theology,  where  infidelity  has  abandoned  it,  it  presents  the 
long  demanded  and  much  desired  substitute  for  orthodox  faith. 
While  completely  substantiated  by  physical  proofs,  it  is  as 
consistent  as  any  sectarian  doctrine  whatever  with  the  scrip- 
tures, and  therefore  the  only  one  true  and  tenable,  being  alone 
supported  also  by  reason.  It  presents  the  golden  mean,  the 
great  mediation  between  the  deluded  superstitionist,  the  dog- 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  MORAL  STATE  OF  NATIONS. 


ITALY. 

Mental  Strength  and  Weak- 
ness 80 
The  insanity  of  Jealousy  81 
The  corruption  of  Education  82 
Perversion  of  Talent  85 
The  Advent  of  Wisdom  83 
The  source  of  Moral  Action  84 

SPAIN 

Love  alloyed  by  Jealousy       85 
The  Despotism  of  Supersti- 
tion 85 

PORTUGAL 

Dreadful  excess  of  the  Pas- 
sions 86 
The  Mind  likened  to  Fire     «7 
Politics  and  Superstition        87 
Their  reform  must  be  gradual  88 

SWITZERLAND. 

Its  Democracy  nominal         88 
The  People  mercenary          89 

GERMANY. 

Tenacious  of  Custom  90 

Superior  docility  of  the  Asi- 
atic Nations  91 
HOLLAND  and  BELGIUM. 
The  Rapacity  of  Avarice      92 
DENMARK  and  NORWAY         93 

SWEDEN 
Its  favorable  Simplicity          94 

RUSSIA. 
A  compound   of  European 

fraud  and  Asiatic  vice          95 
Oppression  and  Want  96 

POLAND. 
Its  Chaotic  Government       97 


LAPLAND. 

Its  Primeval  Simplicity          99 
Civilization    and    Nature 

contrasted  loo 

Man  like  a  Musical  Instru- 

me:st  103 

The  Source  of  Human  Ac- 
tion must  he  purified        104 
TURKEY  105 

The  Philosophy  of  Neces- 
sity 

Contrasted  with  Europe 
ARABIA 
P>:RSIA 

Its  cruel  Government 
INDIA 


106 
107 
108 
109 
110 
111 
1J2 


European  Oppression,  _,_ 

England's  Suicidal  Power  114 

SOUTHERN  ASIA 

Malacca.  Slam,  Pegu,  <$-c.  1 1 5 
Gaming  and  Cock-fighting  116 

CHINA.  117 

The  Futility  of  Ceremonies  118 

TARTARS. 
Its  Animal  Happin ess  118 

AFRICA. 

Its  violence  and  Sufferings  120 
An  Appeal  to  Nations  HI 

AMERICA. 

The  Colonist's  Selfishness  12* 
The  Slaves'  Ignorance  122 
The  Indians'  Natural  State  122 
An  Allegory  of  NATURE  123 

CONCLUSION  124 

Abstract    aaid    Practical 

Truth  125 

The  French  Populace  125 
The  Moral  chaos  Universal  12ft 


CONTENTS 

OF  THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 


PREFACE.  3 

The  Ignorance  of  the  World  4 

The  Omnipotence  of  Tiuth  5 

INTRODUCTION  7 

MATTER  9 

MOTION     *  JO 

MAN  11 

Compared  to  a  five-stringed 

musical  instrument  11 

An  eternal  part  of  Nature      12 

The  VOLITION  is 
The  source  of  Moral    Ac- 
tion 13 

THK  JUDGMENT  is 
The  Sovereign  of  the  mind  14 
The  Insidiousness  of  Van- 
ity 15 
The  KSSF.NCK  of  MAN. 
Rational  Immortality              18 
INDIVIDUAL  STATE           18 
STATE  OF  ASSOCIATION    19 
Its  totality  of  Error                £0 
The  criminal  inequality  of 

the  Rich  and  the  Poor      20 
Of  Male  and  Female  Chas- 
tity 21 
MATTER,  continued  £1 
SELF                                        28 
Self  knowledge  or  Wisdom  25 
Other  knowledge  or  Folly     26 
PERSONAL  iMprmYfi    27 
Consciousness  of  existence 
and  Power  of  Action         29 
SELF  Continued                     30 
HAPPINESS  32 
Reciprocity  of  Interests        33 
The  Benefits  of  Repose        35 
Reason  must  be  augmented  36 
VIRTUK  is  37 
The  Benefactor  of  Sell        28 
The  Object  of  Society          39 
The  Enormity  of  Ignorance  40 
True  Self-love  is  Virtue         41 
Philosohic  Authors  recom- 

43 


WISDOM  45 

Brief  code  of  Morals  43 

Reform  must  he  gradual  44 
KNOWLEDGE  is 

The  material  of  Wisdom  45 
INTELLECTUAL  EXISTENCE  47 
Continual  change  of  Matter  48 

TRUTH, 

Its  obscuration  51 

Appeal  in  >t»  behalf  52 

The  EDUCATION  of  NATUIE 
Exercise  and  Example  53 

Philology  or  Language  54 
Peifection  of  the  Greek  and 

Latin  55 

THE  MORALITY  of  NATURE  57 
The  principle  of  Utility  57 
A  metaphor  of  Vegetation  59 
The  SCIENCE  of  NATURE  59 
The  Futility  of  disputing  60 
" — Science  61 

Th •:  LOGIC  of  NATURE          62 
The  Imperfection   of  Lan- 
guage 63 
Knowledge  is  derived  from 

the  Senses  only  64 

The  MEDICINE  of  NATURE  65 
Vegetable  diet  and  Water  6t> 
The  Quackery  of  Medicine  69 
The  Atrocious  Excess  of  In 

dustry  71 

Its  depression  of  the  Poor     71 
The  inanity  of  the  Rich        72 
THE  ARTS  -  73 

Agriculture  73 

The  Mechanic  Arts  73 

The  Polite  Arts  74 

The  RELKHON  of  NATURE  75 
Its  -principal  Tenets  75  76 

Superstition  agahwt  Morality  77 
The  Enormity  of  Indu>try  79 
'(  he  Misery  of  the  Poor  80 
The  Transmutations  of  Na- 
ture ci 
Universal  Humanity  Q% 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE 


The  Retribution  of  Nature    84 
The  Misguidance  of  Ignor- 
ance 85 
Relative  and  Abstract  Truth  86 
PRINCIPLES  of  ASSOCIATION 

01  CIVILIZATION  87 

Communities   or  Cohabita- 
tions proposed  88 
The  Permanence  of  Truth  89 
A  REVIEW  of  the  PRESENT 

INSTITUTIONS  of  SOCIETY  90 
Law- Craft  and  Priest-Craft  91 
The  Delusion  of  Theology  92 
The  Tyranny  of   Govern- 
ment S3 
The  Education  of  Civiliza- 
tion 95 
That  of  Enlightened  Nature  96 
Objections  Answered  97 
CONCLUSION.                 97 
Self  retribution  of  Virtue 

and  of  Vice  99 

The  Diversities  of  Charac- 
ter 101 


The  Enslavement  of  Wo- 
men io<£ 
Errors  at  d  Terrors  of  Su- 
perstition                            103 
The    Inequalities    of  So- 
ciety                                    104 
Aphorisms  of  Nature            105 
INVOCATION  to  SELF  106 
The  Vanity  of  Learning     107 
The  Universality  of  Sym- 
pathy 109 
APPENDIX,  m 
Influence  of  Reason             11£ 
The  Motives  of  the  Author  113 
Sympathy  and  Probity        114 
The   Subversion    of  Sym 

pathy  us 

The  Divinity  of  Thought  118 
THOUGHTS  on  GOVERNMENT  119 
The  British  Constitution  120 
The  Superiority  of  Principle  121 
The  Pythagorean  Error  122 


A  VOCABULARY 


Of  80MT>  OF  THE   MORE   UNCOMMON   WORDS  USED  IN    TIIK   MORAJU 
STATE    OF  NATIONS,  AND  THE  REVELATION  OF  XATUlt£. 


,  The  height  or  summit. 

Apocalypse,  Revelation. 

Apothegms,     Maxims,    Wise 
concise  sentences. 

Archetype,  Pattern  or  original. 

Caducity,  Ripeness. 

Catholic,  Universal  or  General. 

Centripetal,  Gravitating  to  the 
centre 

Ctfrt/n/w^aAlteceding  from  the 
centre. 

Coercion,  Force,  Tyranny. 

Colossal,  Gigantic* 

Colossus,  An  enormous  figure. 

Collusive,  Fraudently  concert- 
ed; 

Dialectic,  Logic,  the  art  of 
reasoning. 

Dilemma,  A  doubtful  choice. 

Duct,  A  passage  or  channel. 

Duodecimo,  12  leaves  to  a  sheet 

JEndemic,Pecu\  arto  a  country. 

Epoch,  Important  date,  from 
which  other  dates  are  num- 
bered ;  similar  to  Era 

Errant,  Wandering. 

Ethics,  Morals. 

Eucharistical,  Sacramental. 

Euthanasy,  Easy  death. 

Exotic,  Foreign, 

Goal,  Termination,  the  fina> 
object. 

Harpy,  A  ravenous  wretch* 

IgnisFatuua,  A  fallacious  light 

Indefeasible,  Not  to  be  annul- 
led. 

Integer,  The  whole. 

Integral,  Entire. 

Interregnum^     Intermediate 
reign. 

Irrefragable,    Un-breakable, 
not  to  be  confuted. 

Knowledge.  Learning,  percep« 
lion  ot  facts. 


Labyrinth,  A  maze,  intricacy. 

Lingua  Franca,  A  general  lati- 
guage. 

Logomachy,   A   contention 
about  words. 

Lusus  Naturae,  A  prank)  or 
freak  of  Nature. 

Vbickievalian,  Politically  craf- 
ty. 

Medicament,  Medical  remeay. 

Medium.  The  means. 

Minutiae,  Trifling  detaus. 

Moral  Motion,  Moral  Action. 

Parochial,  Of  a  parish  or  dis- 
trict. 

Phenix,  A  bird  fabled  to  con- 
sume, and  a  young  one  to  rise 
from  the  ashes. 

Phenomenon,  Appearance. 

Philology,  Verbal  learning. 

Plastic,  Capable  of  giving 
form. 

Policy,  The  craft  of  govern- 
ment. Polities 

Primum  Mobile,  The  original 
moving  power. 

Ratio,  Proportion. 

Rulticon,  The  crisis,  boundary, 

S-mativtly.  Healingly. 

Sanctum  Naturae,  Sacred  re- 
treat of  Nature. 

Spungitig-houstSi  The  firsk, 
prisons  of  Debtors 

Stamina.  The  fundamental 
principles. 

Succinct,  CrrncLse,  short. 

Syens,  Eloquent  seducers, 
Mermaids 

Synonitnous,  Similar  ins  inean^ 
ing. 

Vacuum,  Empty  space. 

Volition  The  faculty  of  willing. 

Wisdom,  The  liaupy  search  lor 
au'J  application  of  Knowledge.. 


INVOCATION  TO  TRUTH. 


I  KNOW  not  in  what  language  to  utter  thy  operation  of 
thought,  while  thy  glorious  essence  is  the  subject  of  its 
contemplation.  Error  has  so  condensed  the  medium  of 
speech,  through  which  only  thou  canst  be  defined,  that 
should  thought,  elevated  above  the  atmosphere  of  preju- 
dice obtain  a  view  of  thy  effulgent  nature,  speech  would 
sully  thy  glory  in  the  clouds  of  definition,  formed  of  per- 
verted epithets  and  unmeaning  terms. 

Shine  forth  then  in  the  plenitude  of  thy  radiance! 
Dispel  with  the  ardor  of  thy  rays  the  thick  mist  of  cre- 
dulity and  vanity,  which  error  collects  to  envelope  the 
human  thought,  to  hide  it  from  the  least  glimpse  of  thy 
light,  to  conceal  the  source  of  moral  motion,  to  hide  self 
from  man,  to  betray  him  into  misery,  and  by  perpetuat- 
ing the  moral  chaos,  to  universalize  and  eternize  the  pains 
of  Nature,  by  the  artifice  of  a  detestable  proverb,  that 
"Truth  is  dangerous." 

This  blasphemy  of  the  holy  majesty  of  Nature  is  an 
infernal  falsehood.  While  the  moral  world  is  agonizing 
under  the  double  oppression  of  tyranny  and  error,  where 
can  relief  be  found,  but  in  human  thought  in  a  state  of 
absolute  freedom,  emancipated  from  all  the  chains  of 
civil,  domestic  and  religious  institutions,  to  obtain  thai 


4  INVOCATION  TO   TRUTH. 

clear  medium  of  Just  conception,  in  which  only  thy  di- 
vine nature  can  be  discovered. 

Teach  mankind,  that  while  the  most  feeble  groan  is 
caused  by  moral  volition  to  any  part  of  sensitive  Nature, 
it  arises  from  thy  light  being  interrupted  and  eclipsed  by 
error,  and  that  thy  power  over  moral  and.  physical  causes 
is  sufficient  to  remove  almost  the  whole  of  evil  and  mise- 
ry from  the  domains  of  Nature. 

O,  inspire  me  with  thy  divine  qualities  of  sympathy 
and  probity,  and  unprejudiced  conception,  that  by  the  en- 
ergy of  simple  speech,  though  I  may  not  be  able  to  de- 
scribe the  immensity  and  beneficence  of  thy  essence,  I 
may  at  least  detect  the  machinations  of  tyranny  and  error ; 
and  induce  mankind  to  attempt  that  emancipation  from 
their  yoke,  which  must  precede,  and  be  the  twilight  or 
that  happy  aurora  of  thy  glorious  sun,  to  generate  intel- 
lectual existence,  reduce  the  moral  chaos  into  system, 
and  procure  happiness  to  all  sensitive  Nature ! 


DEDICATION. 

TO   THE 

CHILD   OF  MATURE. 


O  YOU,  happy  mortal,  elevated  above  the  articulated 
air  of  applause,  and  looking  down  upon  humanity,  not 
with  pride  but  pity — you,  who  are  in  contrast  with  all  the 
heroes  of  the  world,  and  like  visible  objects  become 
greater,  the  more  we  approach  you  on  your  eminence  of 
sympathy,  probity  and  wisdom — you,  moving  in  the  mo- 
ral system,  with  the  same  irrefragable  order  that  planets 
move  with  in  the  solar,  and  governed  by  similar  laws  of 
gravitation,  towards  self  as  the  centre  and  -sympathy  or 
attraction  towards  other  selfs  in  the  universality  of  sensi- 
tive Nature — deign  to  protect  the  sentiments  of  the  work 
now  presented  from  the  fangs  of  tyranny  and  error. 

You,  who  in  your  daily  perambulations,  seek  and  give 
relief  to  various  parts  of  distressed  Nature;  who  from 
extreme  anticipative  powers  of  mind,  see,  and  study  to 
remove  the  causes  as  well  as  the  effects  of  misery;  who 
frequently  drop  a  tear  with  your  penny  into  the  basket  of 
the  industrious  poor  that  are  ashamed  to  beg,  and  leading 
their  half  starved  offspring,  to  strike  with  double  force 
fi 


6  DEDICATION   TO   THE    CHILD    OF   NATURfi. 

upon  sympathy — the  chain  of  Nature.  Your  penetrat- 
ing mind  sees,  and  your  sympathetic  heart  feels,  the  mise- 
rv  which  pride  or  fear  induces  poverty  to  conceal.  The 
numberless  shops  that  are  open  to  support  a  numerous 
offspring — does  accident  every  day  reward  the  anxiety  and 
captivity  of  the  owners  by  procuring  a  mere  subsistence? 
— the  doubt  gives  pain  to  your  sympathetic  mind,  and  ex- 
cites the  wish,  that  civilized  association  which  makes 
no  provision  for  misfortune  or  mental  weakness,  might 
be  improved  into  natural,  where  wisdom  assisting  folly, 
and  strength  weak-ness,  would  produce  universal  liberty 
and  equality,  without  which  the  moral  world  must  ever 
ire  main  in  the  chaos  of  error  and  misery. 

Under  the  protection  of  that  sympathy  and  probity  I 
launch  out  my  little  bark  of  opinion  upon  the  tempestu- 
ous ocean  of  the  world;  and  though  the  storms  of  error, 
and  thunderbolt  of  interest  may  impede  its  progress,  yet, 
covered  by  your  benign  influence,  it  shall  navigate  unhurt, 
and  arrive  at  the  haven  of  humanity  oppressed  by  error, 
and  discharge  its  cargo  of  sympathy  and  truth,  to  reform 
and  relieve  mankind,  by  leading  them  to  a  state  of  intel- 
lectual .existence  and  enlightened  Nature. 


PREFACE. 


IN  a  disposition  of  mind  interested  in  the  happiness  of 
all  animated  matter,  the  author  of  the  following  new  ideas 
traversed  the  globe,  and  proposes  to  lay  them  before  the 
public,  conjuring  his  readers  to  pay  them  the  attention 
their  importance  demands. 

He  must  take  the  liberty  to  admonish  his  critics,  who 
lie  hopes  may  be  as  numerous  as  are  their  interests  in 
the  subjects  tre'ated  on,  to  withdraw  the  mind  as  much  as 
possible  from  t!he  influence  of  education  and  custom;  and 
as  the  author's  reflections  have  dared  to  claim  and  as- 
sert tlie  .right  of  reason,  to  investigate  every  institution 
that  is  to  direct  the  essence  of  man  to  well-being  and 
happiness,  he  hopes  they  will  be  aware,  how  difficult  it 
is  to  arrive  at  that  elevated  position,  where  a  critic  must 
place  himself,  to  take  a  view  of  this  work. 

The  rarest  character  I  have  sought,  for  among  mankind 
"is,  the  man  who  unites  the  excellence  of  natural  with 
that  of  acquired  good  sense  or  learning.  The  latter  ac- 
customs the  mind  to  such  habits  of  decision  or  cessation 
from  reflection,  that  I  believe  the  talents  are  incompati- 
ble;  for  a  mind  of  great  natural  capacity  is  wholiy  occu- 
•  pied  in  investigating  sentiments,  or  moral  truths,  while 
the  other  is  constantly  composing  and  consolidating  the 
ideas  of  others  and  its  own  into  new  sentiments,  which 
it  labors  to  establish,  and  thereby  to  acquire  fame  for  an 
excellence  in  knowledge. 

The  wind  of  natural  good  sense,  improved  by  educa- 
tion, not.  books,  into  wisdom,  is  aware  of  the  vanity  of 
lame,  and  decomposes  and  analyzes  the  sentiments  of  oth- 
ers and  its  own,  which  ~it  recommends  to  the  discussion 
of  mankind,  and  by  this  co-operative  exercise  of  thought, 
acquires  that  intellectual  power  of  reflection,  that  never 
decides,  but  rather  reposes  upon  the  evidence  that  dis- 
cussion has  presented,  and  acts  thereon,  till  further  re- 
jection or  discussion  provides  it  with  more. 


g  THE   INVETERACY    OF   PREJUDICE, 

How  few  minds  can  even  tolerate,  much  less  join  "ri^ 
the  discussion  of  ancient  opinions,  or  of  others  rendered 
sacred  by  an  illusive  importance  attached  thereto  by  ig- 
norance. 

»  What  American  savage  is  there,  but  would  be  scandal- 
ized at  any  discussion,  that  should  suppose  cruelty  or  in- 
famy in  the  practice  of  putting  aged  parents  to  death? 

What  Chinese — that  could  bear,  without  indignation, 
a  dispassionate  inquiry  into  the  custom  of  putting  chil- 
dren to  death,  and  the  supposing  infanticide  a  crime? 

What  Spaniard — but  applauds  the  virtue  of  the  infernal 
court  of  inquisition,  that  burns  the  body  from  which 
thought,  the  sacred  germ  of  Nature  to  produce  moral 
good,  emanates,  to  call  on  wisdom  for  aid,  to  break  the 
iron  shackles  of  prejudice  and  ignorance :  and  by  such 
terror  procures  the  abortion  of  those  ideas,  that  would 
carry  man  to  a  state  of  intellectual  existence,  and  tri- 
umphing over  the  general  and  only  enemy,  ignorance, 
elevate  himself  to  a  state  of  enlightened  Nature? 

How  many  men  of  erudition,  in  all  countries,  but  are 
as  intolerant  as  inquisitors,  when  their  inveterate  prejudi- 
ces are  attacked ;  and  though  they  have  not  the  infernal 
zeal  to  burn  the  body  in  order  to  destroy  the  germ  of 
thought,  that  inestimable  gift  of  Nature,  to  direct  man  to 
happiness,  yet  they  collect  all  the  arms  of  sophistry  and 
logic,  to  throw  a  veil   over  their  own   eyes  and  those  of 
mankind,  lest  if  truth  was  discovered,  the  respect  they 
acquire  from  ignorance  would  be  converted  into  a  seve- 
;reign  contempt,  and  mankind,  cultivating  the  only  system 
of  society,  equality  and  universal  fraternity  in  the  .parent- 
age of  Nature,  would  devise  such  innovations  as  would 
make  ignorance  alarmed  at  the  loss  of  partial  property 
and  power,  which  wisdom  condemns  as  universal  Devils. 
These    innovations,  df  not  gradual,  and  conciliatory 
with  the  weak  foresight  .-of , men,  -would  Coffer  remedies, 
that  would  aggravate  'the  ^disorder;  but  the  province  of 
vwisdom  is  to  discover  the  link  that  connects  speculation 
and  practice  in  policy  and  civilization,  as  knowledge  in 
^medicine  vdoes  the  modification  of  poisons  when 


THE  MOST   MOMENTOUS    EPOCH.  $ 

to  the  natural  body.  But  the  most  refined  speculation 
gerves  as  a  beacon  to  practice. 

The  author  thinks  it  necessary  to  declare,  that  this 
work  has  been  hurried  to  the  press  with  a  precipitancy, 
that  the  present  conjuncture  of  events  calls  for.  The 
moral  world  is  agitated  and  threatened  with  dreadful 
storms,  and  wisdom  is  called  upon  at  this  moment,  to 
leave  its  outward  occupation  of  art  and  science,  to  form 
such  moral  conductors,  as  may  convey  the  thunderbolt  oJf 
revolution,  to  purity,  and  not  destroy  the  moral  elements 
or  associations  of  mankind. 

The  present  epocha  is  by  far  the  most  important  that 
the  annals  of  the  world  have  recorded — the  moral  world 
is  affected  by  an  extraordinary  commotion. 

Commerce  having  opened  an  extensive  communica- 
tion among  mankind,  the  fountain  of  knowledge  spring- 
ing up  in  an  island  of  liberty,  where  the  human  mind  is 
unrestrained  in  its  faculties  of  thought,  has,  through  the 
channel  of  a  free  press,  flowed  into  neighboring  nations, 
and  given  birth  to  sentiments,  which  ar*e  ripened  into  ac- 
tion, that  h^s  been  the  cause  of  these  sudden  and  impor- 
tant revolutions  in  the  two' hemispheres. 

Any  one  new  idea  conceived  and  communicated,  cre- 
ates a  new  germ,  that  must  ultimately,  though  impercep- 
tibly, spread  over  the  moral  world,  and  produce  senti- 
ment which  will  produce  action,  and  be  the  cause  of  va- 
rious revolutions  and  changes,  to  which  Nature  is  proue 
in  all  her  works. 

In  the  economy  of  association  over  all  the  world,  it 
may  be  observed  that  man  possesses  freedom  in  proper* 
tion  to  his  knowledge,  otherwise  freedom  would  he  an 
evil ;  for  where  the  volition  of  man  is  free,  and  guided 
by  ignorance,  he  will  be  constantly  doing  injury  to  him- 
self. 

As  the  moral  atmosphere  is  rendered  morbid  by  the 
ignorance  of  mankind,  its  inhabitants  must  be  subjected 
to  a  certain  regimen,  which  may  bring  their  constitution 
to  a  state  congenial  with  the  atmosphere. 

As  nations  live  in  a  state  of  legitimate  rapiae  am!  vio» 


10  PREFACE. 

lence,  their  defence  obliges  them  to  give  up  natural  liber- 
ty for  public  energy;  and  the  same  observation  is  appli- 
cable to  violence  in  the  assault  of  individuals,  and  the  de- 
fence of  society. 

An  ignorant  man  who  cannot  see  beyond  the  present 
moment,  or  extend  the  concerns  of  self  to  the  great  orbit 
of  society,  must  be  directed  by  coercive  power  which 
may  relax  or  contract  in  proportion  as  ignorance  disap- 
pears, and  knowledge  takes  its  place.  ^ 

What  would  a  peasant  reply  to  a  tax  collector,  if  he  v 
asked  him  for  a  proportion  of  the  aliment  and  clothes 
destined  for  himself  and  family,  by  assuring  him,  that  if  \ 
he  did  not  voluntarily  part  therewith,  the  emperor  would 
conquer  the  king  of  Prussia,  and  his  new  association 
with  his  fellow-subjects,  the  savages  of  Nootka  Sound, 
would  be  broken  off'  by  the  king  of  Spain?  The  peasant 
would  look  upon  him  as  a  robber,  or  madman,  and  no 
doubt  drive  him  out  of  his  house.  What  would  be  the 
consequence  in  the  present  relative  and  and  active  situa- 
tion of  the  political  world?  The  king  augmenting  in 
power,  and  aided  by  millions  of  slaves,  called  subjects, 
would  shortly  appear  upon  the  coast,  and  reduce,  by  the 
violence  of  subordinate  governors,  the  ignorant  and  self- 
ish peasant  to  a  state  little  better  than  that  of  the  savages 
just  mentioned. 

Till  nations  become  more  just  and  humanized,  it  is 
necessary  to  discover  that  medium  point  between  demo- 
cracy and  monarchy,  where  public  energy  and  individual 
liberty  unite,  and  from  this  enviable  and  firm  position,* 

*The  end  of  all  improvement  in  constituted  governments 
•hould  be,  to  give  such  influence  to  the  democracy,  as  may  pre- 
vent the  influence  of  the  crown  from  establishing  too  great  a  dis- 
proportion between  the  interest  of  the  country,  and  the  interest 
of  partial  offices;  for  men  always  sacrifice  the  less  to  the  greater 
interest.  But  this  point  is  difficult  to  be  discovered,  and  1  pre- 
fer disseminating  wisdom  among  the  people,  and  net  extending 
the  superstructure  of  government  till  the  foundation  is  laid. 

The  only  present  improvements  to  be  wished  in  the  policy  of 


FREEDOM  MUST  BE  PROPORTIONED  TO  KNOWLEDGE.      1 1 

which  England  alone,  among  all  the  nations  of  the  world, 
has  had  the  wisdom  to  discover,  and  the  virtue  to  estab- 
lish, let  her  open  the  fountain  of  thought,  that  only  source 
of  moral  perfection,  and  by  establishing  the  absolute  lib- 
erty of  the  press,  inundate  the  globe,  and  fertilize  the  soil 
of  humanity  into  intellectual  existence;  and  when  this 
glorious  effect  is  produced,  let  her  then,  and  not  till  then, 
resign  the  power,  which  art  and  violence  have  assumed 
over  Nature,  for  her  own  benefit,  into  the  hands  of  en- 
lightened citizens,  who  finding  wisdom  spread  to  every 
part  of  the  globe,  will  break  down  the  barriers  of  coer- 
cion, and  live  in  universal  fraternity,  guided  by  the  reli- 
gion of  Nature,  having  purified  essence  into  intellectual 
existence,  and  elevated  civilization,  by  the  virtues  of  sym- 
pathy and  probity,  to  a  state  of  enlightened  Nature. 

Mankind  are  coming  of  age,  and  breaking  from  the 
leading  strings  of  priests  and  kings ;  they  demand  new 
modes  of  moral  settlement,  and  woe  be  to  humanity, 
should  freedom  be  assumed,  and  ignorance  still  control 
their  actions.  They  would  then  be  precipitated  into  an 
abyss  of  anarchy,  from  which  despotism  alone  could  re- 
lieve them,  and  a  despotism  of  such  force  and  durability, 
as  would  destroy  the  germ  of  wisdom,  which  alone  can 
procure  well-being,  or  an  enlightened  state  of  Nature. 

Internal  consciousness  of  rectitude,  which  enables  an 
author  to  bid  defiance  to  interest,  malice  and  prejudice, 
elevates  him  so  far  above  the  vanity  of  erudition,  that  if 
it  was  possible  to  explain  his  sentiments,  and  communi- 
cate his  ideas  in  all  the  anomalies  of  grammatical  error 
and  logical  diction,  he  would  pour  forth  the  current  of 
thought  in  all  the  cataracts  of  literal  irregularities  of  eve- 
ry kind,  and  study  only  to  convey  the  whole  of  its  stream 
to  the  ocean  of  the  human  intellect,  though  it  arrive  in 
tempestuous  and  broken  billows. 

The  author  of  the  following  work  disclaims  all  preten- 

England  are  parochial  associations  of  correspondence,  which 
would  collect  the  unbiassed  and  deliberate  will  of  the  people, 
which  would  prevent  knaves  and  fools  from  aspiring  to  the  sacred 
office  of  minister,  with  the  sordid  view  of  private  interest. 


12  PREFACE* 

sions  to  erudition,  and  attributes  his  present  unprejudiced 
state  of  mind  to  the  neglect  thereof.  He  preferred  read- 
ing the  volume  of  life,  (in  travelling  over  the  extremities 
of  the  globe,  whence  he  collected  real  ideas,  which  enlight- 
en the  mind,)  to  books,  whose  verbal  ideas  confound 
it.  He  begs  to  warn  his  readers  against  any  unpleasant 
surprise,  in  finding  much  repetition  and  total  neglect  of 
the  arrangement  of  his  matter,  whose  different  species  is 
offered  under  the  same  genus;  and  preface,  introduction 
and  work,  were  forms  prefixed  to  his  thoughts  and  ideas, 
whose  violent  fermentation,  arising  from  the  novelty  and 
importance  of  the  subject,  untempered  by  the  modifica- 
tions of  erudition,  have  flowed  over  their  reciprocal  boun- 
daries. 

However  the  sentiments  in  the  following  pages  may 
be  dogmatically  delivered,  the  author  declares  his  inten- 
tions are,  to  recommend  to  his  readers  the  subjects  on 
which  they  ought  to  think,  rather  than  the  mode  how  they 
are  to  think;  and  the  principal  reason  for  communicating 
these  ideas  to  the  public  was,  to  open  a  candid  and  libe- 
ral discussion  on  the  nature  of  existence,  which  private 
conversation  refuses.  The  author  has  made  the  most  ex- 
tensive researches  in  every  country,  to  discover  enlighten- 
ed and  liberal  minds,  whose  mutual  intercourse  might  fa- 
cilitate the ' investigation  of  truth,  and  bring  the  result 
more  advantageously  prepared  for  the  public  discussion; 
but  he  has  been  able  to  find  no  such  characters,  and  has 
been  treated  with  negligence  and  contempt  wherever  he  . 
has  been  too  importunate  to  urge  the  investigation  of 
truth,  by  inquiries  which  brought  the  knowledge  of  man- 
kind to  a  state  of  humiliation  almost  below  instinct. 
What  reception  men  of  learning  would  give  to  such  a 
system  the  public  may  easily  judge. 

The  author  in  the  progress  of  these  researches  met. 
with  a  character,  who  united  strong  mental  faculties  to 
profound  erudition,  and  a  great  degree  of  liberality  of  judg- 
ment, obtained  by  travelling.  Here  he  hoped  to  have 
found  a  man,  whose  standard  of  opinion  would  have  ex- 
tended ovef  the  whole  domain  of  Nature ;  but  alas  he 


THE    AUTHOR  S    VIEWS    AND    EXPERIENCE.  13 

had  been  no  farther  than  the  boundaries  of  Europe,  and 
his  opinions  terminated  with  its  extremities.  This  gen- 
tleman declared,  "tfeat  an  opinion- which  co&tfacRcted  the 
most  important,  institutions  of  society,  should  not  be  pro- 
mulgated," sanctifying  thereby  the  inquisition  of  Rpain^ 
the  despotism  of  Turkey,  and  every  crime  hallowed  by 
public  institution  over  all  the  world  ;  thereby  destroying 
the  instrument  of  Nature ».  to  operate  changes  towards  u 
more  perfect  state  of  existence — the  HUMAN  THOUGHT—- 
which,  according  to  him,  was  irredeemably  enslaved  by 
civil,  religious  and  domestic  institutions,  and  was  to.  he. 
emancipated  only  in  affairs  of  little  moment. 

The  author  since  has  been  discouraged  by  the  disap- 
pointment he  met  with  in  a  character  tnat  promised  so 
much  perfection,  and  has  determined  to  present  his  ideas 
to  the  public;  for  which  his  morality  and  sentiments  as-> 
a  child  of  Nature,  must  offer  an  apology,  and  he  hopes  it 
not  a  favorable  reception,  at  least  a  candid  discussion,  to 
enable  him  to  reform  his  own  errors,  and  correct  those  ot 
mankind.  He  proposes  printing  this  work  in  duodecimo, 
to  render  it  portable,  that  the  judgment  of  the  reader  ma^ 
deliberate  and  discuss  its  matter  without  the  aid  of  mem- 
ory, and  that  it  may  be  opened  in  the  scenes  of  rural  soli- 
tude, where  Nature  affords  a  clearer  atmosphere  for  tho 
judgment,  than  the  literary  mist  of  the  cabinet  or  library, 
where  verbal  ideas  alone  arise  and  circulate,  to  perpetuate 
prejudice  and  confound  truth.  The  study  of  Nature 
should  be  pursued  in  the  cabinet  of  Nature — groves,  for- 
ests, lawns,  lakes  &c.  &c.  Here  real  ideas  or  things 
present  themselves  to  contemplation,  and  the  great  stan- 
dard of  truth  becomes  Nature's  self. 

Truth  will  present  itself  to  the  reader  in  these  works, 
without  the  dress  of  erudition  or  eloquence,  and  under  ail 
the  disadvantage  which  the  criticism  of  learning,  prejudice^ 
superstition  and  personal  interest  can  bring  upon  it., 
This  opposition,  like  many  other  operations  of  ignorance^, 
will  defeat  its  own  purpose,  and  the  ingenuity  of  syilcn 
gisin  and  insidious  eloquence,  and  terrors  of  political  and 
religious  enthusiasm,  will  but  serve  to,  establish  a  color* 

2 


14  PREFACE. 

cd  lens,  thai  the  sun  of  truth  may  be  distinctly  contend-' 
-plated;  whereas  in  the  meridian  effulgence  this  work  pla- 
ces it,  the  mind  of  man,  emerging  from  the  d;trk  cave  of 
error,  might  be  dazzled  and  confoirndcd,  instead  of  en- 
lightened with  its  blaze  of  splendor.  The  author  hopes 
that  the  imcouthuess  of  his  style,  the  irreguhrity  of  ar- 
rui£oment,  and  the  absence  of  erudition,  will  not  preju- 
dice the  minds,  of  the  -learned,  so  as  to  forbid  a  pcrusaj  of 
his  matter:  he  entreats  their  criticism,  whic.li  nnv  farms'} 
him  with  new  light  to  approach  that,  dark  and  recondite 
subject,  .the  source  of  moral  motion,  and  to  .discover  the 
means  of  improving  and  extending  human  essence  to  in- 
tellectual <'.xi  sic  nee. 

I  must  beg  the  indulgence  of  my  render  for  any  dcfefts 
of  composition,  and  oiler,  as  my  <>n!y  apologv,  the  foi- 
loivi-.ig  reflection: — The  ideas  communicated  in  the  fol- 
lowing work  are  real,  and  not  verbal;  that  is.  taken  froui 
tilings  in  the  volume  of  Nature,  and  not  from  words  am! 
adopted  sentiments  in  books,  and  the  mind,  in  explaining 
new  conceptions,  finds  greater  difficulty  to  employ  lan- 
guage whieh  erudition  and  extensive  reading  alone  can 
give,  and  this  advantage  the  author,  whos<-.  whole  life  bar* 
been  spent  in  travels,  has  been  deprived  of,  which  he  shall 
not  regret,  if  his  iileas  are  intelligibly  explained.  lie  re- 
grets much  the  impulse  of  a. genius,  which  (lies  too  .ra- 
pidly ov.  r  the  tardy  detail  of  demonstration  ;  hut  be 
hopes  that  the.  penetration  of  many  of  his  readers,  and 
the  erudition  of  many  of  his  critics,  will  assist  in  fur- 
nishing a  supplement,  for  the  demonstration  of  s/.icti 
truths  as  carry  with  them  conviction,  and  the  exposition 
of  such  errors  as  may  oppose  the  end  of  his  labors  and 
attentions,  to  procure  systematic  happiness  to  all  sensi- 
live  Nature. 

lie  moreover  declares,  that  in  transferring  from  the 
mind  to  p:\pcr  his  thoughts,  he  has  been  careless  as  to 
style  and  hnguoge,  and  in  the  enthusiasm  of  sympathy, 
hiis  not  been  ably  to  give  discrimination,  or  ample  ex- 
planation to  his  ideas.  This  Sank  will  serve  to  call  into 
exercise  the  penetration  erf  his  readers,  and  call  with 


THE   IMMORTALITY   OP   SELF   IN   I«ATURE.  15 

more  necessity  upon  him,  for  a  series  of  commentaries, 
to  elucidate  this  work  of  texts,  and  be  hopes  in  these  to 
be  aided  by  the  light  of  frequent  and  sagacious  criticism, 
to  which  he  will  pay  an  extreme  attention,  and  pardon 
all  the  rancor,  or  personal  abuse,  which  the  passions 
may  indulge  in,  when  interested  or  rooted  prejudices 
are  attacked.  He  implores  all  his  fellow  parts  in  the 
great  integer  of  Nature,  not  to  treat  these  ideas  with 
contempt,  as  visionary  systems,  but  to  favor  the  benevo- 
lent intentions  of  the  author,  whose  mind  is  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  sordid  motives  of  interest,  and  vanity  of  ap- 
plause, but.  wishes  to  procure  happiness  to  aU  an.imatcd 
Nature.  He  trusts,  that  this  observation  will  be  suffi- 
cient to  entitle  him  to  a  patient  reading,  and  impartial 
criticism,  which  he  will  himself  ever  labor  at,  till  a  pe- 
riod be  put  to  the  revolution  of  this  identity,  which  dis- 
solving into  the  great  mass  of  Nature,  and  returning  to 
animation  under  a  different  identity,  may  receive  as  an 
eternal  part  of  Nature,  the  advantage  that  his  former  la- 
bors may  have  procured  by  removing  moral  evil  from  ex- 
istence. 

Identity  is  continually  interrupted  in  the  period  of  ex- 
istence, and  it  is  difficult  to  seize  the  moment  of  abso- 
lute identity,  the  moral  and  physical  parts  of  body  con- 
stantly changing;  but  the  capacity  of  identity  to  pro- 
cure present  and  future  pleasure,  and  avoid  present  and 
future  pain,  is  sufficiently  evident  to  procure  well-being. 

Present  identity  concerned,  and  interested  to  procure 
pleasure  for  future  identity,  which  may  have  scperated 
from  and  consequently  forgot  its  antecedent,  represents 
the  interruption  of  identity  in  the  dissolution  of  life";  for 
by  the  labor  of  the  identity  in  life  interrupted  by  death, 
as  a  part  of  Nature  it  must  assume  other  identity,  though 
it  must  have  forgot  its  antecedent  identity  of  life. 

If  the  mind  is  once  brought  to  a  great  force  of  inteN 
nal  operation  or  reflection,  it  can  conceive  with  the  ut- 
most facility  its  internal  and  immortal  connexion  with 
Nature.  Self,  under  all  its  changes  and  combinations 
must  ever  be  a  component  part  of  that  integer,  or  uni- 


16  PREFACE. 

versal  mass  of  mailer;  and  it  is  impossible  in  concep- 
tion, to  separate  self  as  a  part  from  its  whole,  notwith- 
standing the  sudden  interruption  or  dissolution  of  iden- 
tity, whose  connection  being  broken  cannot  remove  its 
interest  in  the  future  good  a*nd  evil  of  the  aggregate  mass 
of  matter  assuming  new  identities. 

Some  part  of  me  was  probably  [?]  some  part  of  Alexan- 
•  der.  If  he  had  humanized  instead  of  barbarizing  man- 
kind, the  universal  happiness  of  animated  matter  being 
the  operation  of  his  identity  as  Alexander,  he  would  now 
enjoy  under  my  identity,  and  his  virtuous  remembrance 
would  serve  to  unite  the  two  identities. 

I  have  given  this  conception  much  investigation  in  my 
mind,  but  I  must  ctose  till  the  investigation  of  others 
may  give  me  nevr  matter  to  proceed  and  operate  with. 
In  the  mean  time  I  enjoy  the  utility  of  its  influence, 
which  establishes  more  encouragement  to  persevere  in 
virtue,  than  imaginary  and  ridiculous  rewards  and  pun- 
ishments, that  are  now  abandoned  to  nurses  and  children 
with  the  tales  of  ghosts  and  witches ;  by  reflecting,  that 
the  good  or  evil  I  procure  in  this  life  are  perpetuated  to 
my  enjoyment  or  suffering,  as  a  part  of  Nature  reanima- 
ted in  a  new  identity.  This  also  forms  that  comforta- 
ble and  reasonable  doctrine  of  immortality,  which 
brought  home  to  the  conception,  gives  dignity  and  resig- 
nation to  the  mind  of  man. 

If  the  utility  of  a  doctrine  cannot  be  disproved,  the 
mind,  in  a  state  of  doubt,  will  do  well  to  establish  utili- 
ty or  happiness,  as  a  valuable  criterion. 

Lest  bigots  or  enthusiasts  might  attempt  to  profit  by 
this  criterion,  I  must  observe,  that  their  visions  are 
clear  only  in  the  darkness  of  credulity  and  superstition ; 
for  they  dare  not  appeal  to  reason,  which  the  doctrine  o' 
universal  identity  in  the  integer  of  Nature  courts  as  it.* 
only  support,  spurning  belief  as  a  weakness,  and  respec- 
ting the  assent  of  the  mind,  or  formation  of  sentiment, 
which  arises  from  conviction  alone,  as  to  positive  or  pro- 
bable truth. 


INTRODUCTION 


THE  present  Is  a  moral  crisis  the  most  extraordinary 
the  world  ever  witnessed.  Man  in  various  parts -rf the 
globe  struggling  to  obtain  liberty,  and  reclaim  (be  natu- 
ral rights  of  which  despotism  or  fallacy  of  J>olicy  has 
deprived  him;  the  mind  of  man  is  peculiarly  called  upon 
to  desist  from  the  futile  occupations  of  arts  and  science, 
and  to  deliberate  .upon  the  present  state  '«f  Humanity. 

Whoever  attends  to  the  conduct  and  conversation  of 
what  is  called  'fhe  polite  world,  must  observe,  that  virtue, 
that  is,  sympathy  and  probity,  are  treated  w-fth  contempt; 
and  honor  or  courage,  that 'is,  'to  pay  a  frebt  of  which 
another  has  robbed  you,  or  cut  his  threat  if  he  exposes 
your  falsehood  or  knavery,  is  :thc  whole  code  of  moral 
law.  Luxury,  which  makes  rapid  strides  in  all  Europe- 
an countries,  while  it  destroys  the  bodily  and  mental 
health  of  the  rich,  increases  the  misery  and  labor  of  the 
poor,  who  are  subjugated  to  institutions  on-y  calculated 
to  protect  property,  of  which  they  have  none  to 
and  happiness,  all  their  possession,  is  sacrificed  to 
ton  avarice,  and  their. corporeal  powers  are  worn  into 
premature  dissolution,  and  their  mental  powers  so  total- 
ly suppressed,  that  extreme  labor  leaves  the  peasant  no 
time  to  acquire  conscientiousness  or  intellectual  exis- 
tence. 

Human  knowledge  has  acquired  .faw  the  experience 
2* 


18  INTRODUCTION* 

•of  past,  ages,  and  the  extensive  intercourse  of  the  present, 
such  force  and  power,  that  it  threatens  to  absorb  the  in- 
tellectual faculty,  and  to  renew  an  epocha  of  the  most 
•dangerous  superstition,  that  shall  surpass  that  which  bas 
held  the  world  in  ignorance  and  misery  for  nearly  eigh- 
teen centuries. 

The  secrets  of  Nature  in  her  physical  domain  are 
every  day  brought  to  light  by  the  ingenuity  of  man.  The 
imagination,  whose  powers  are  subject  to  physical  causes, 
Las  been  explored,  and  various  wonderful  effects  have 
been  produced;  and  Swedenburghers,  Loutherburghers, 
.and  animal  magnetarians  have  forced  credulity,  emanci- 
pated from  the  superstition  of  religion,  to  do  homage  to 
the  works  of -men  of  some  little  ingenuity,  and  not  posses- 
sing one  grain  of  judgment  or  common  sense;  and  yet 
the  revenue  they  have  gained  from  the  credulity  of  igno- 
rance, menaces  the  world  with  a  basis  of  superstition 
more  indestructible  than  fancy  ever  formed,  as  it  pro- 
fluces  real  effects,  whose  cause  being  known  to  few,  ap- 
pear the  most  obvious  and  manifest  miracles  history  evei 
recorded. 

Priestcraft,  thn{  has  latterly  been  confined  to  the  dark 
regions  of  error  in  an  imaginary  world,  is  now  attempt- 
ing to  mix  its  metaphysical  errors  with  the  complicated 
science  of  policy;  and  the  pulpit  is  become"  a  political 
rostrum,  in  order  to  confound  and  perplex  tiie  weak  and 
debilitated  reason  of  man. 

In  this  very  critical  state  of  tlie  world,  contemplative 
and  unprejudiced  minds  are  called  upon  to  direct  the  pas- 
sions of  mankind,  thrown  into  fermentation,  not  so  much 
by  an  increase  of  wisdom,  as  an  augmentation  of  cru- 
ehy  and  oppression ;  for  if  the  rich  in  France  had  con- 


INCONSISTENCY1    OF    THE    FRENCH.  19 

to  pay  their  proportion  of  the  public  burden  of 
taxes,  no  revolution  would  have  happened  in  that  coun- 
try, and  despotism  would  have  taken  deeper  root. 

The  French  have  gone  farther  in  the  theory  of  virtue 
and  liberty,  than  any  nation  upon  the  globe;  but  they 
have  failed  in  their  practice.  They  had  the  glory  to  de- 
clare,  that  the  citizen  had  an  indefeasible  right  to  be  re- 
presented,  and  in  practice  have  taken  away  that  right,  by 
subjecting  it  to  be  purchased  for  three  shillings  per  an- 
num. They  have  declared  that,  man  is  born  free,  and 
hold  in  slavery  millions  of  fellow  creatures  in  the  West 
India  Islands;  and  while  the  British  Parliament,  whose 
theory  is  not  so  brilliant,  are  making  laws  to  alleviate 
that  slavery,  the  French  nation  have  left  their  fate  to  be 
decided  by  their  cruel  task-masters,  bullied  into  this 
measure  by  the  audacious  avarice  of  some  few  sea-port  /  ^ 
•towns  of  patriots,  dealers  in  human  flesh.  ^ 

They  have  declared  that,  they  will  wage  no  unjust 
•war,  and  yet  suffer  themselves  as  auxiliaries,  to  support 
the  extravagant  pretensions  of  Spain,  founded  upon  a  bull 
of  the  pope,  who  having  the  whole  of  the  spiritual  world 
in  his  possession,  must  surely  have  a  claim  to  all  un- 
known corners  of  the  present  or  temporal. 

It  womld  have  been  more  consistent  with  the  princi- 
ples -cf  »n  Assembly,  struggling  to  establish  and  perpetu- 
ate liberty  and  happiness  to  all  mankind,  to  have  become 
mediators,  and  declared  that  their  arms  should  be  em- 
ployed on  the  side  of  justice,  exist  where  it  might.  ,  Such 
an  act  w®uld  force  a  peace  upon  the  whole  world,  and 
all  political  treachery  would  cease,  and  would  arrive  at 
the  end  of  national  seciu&ty  sooner  than  left-handed,  insi- 
dious and  partial  policy,  which  is  pi  sparing  an  ambush. 


20  INTRODUCTION. 

| 

that  may  overthrow  all  that  virtue  and  wisdom  have  hith- 
erto labored  to  produce. 

The  revolution  in  France  is  of  so  formidable  a  nature 
to  the  security  of  personal  authority  and  dominion  of  the 
tyrants  of  the  earth,  that  all  foreign  schemes  of  ambi- 
tion must  he  suspended,  and  the  whole  of  their  attention 
taken  up  with  guarding  their  menaced  despotism.  For 
should  France  succeed  in  forming  a  happy  government 
upon  the  principles  of  liberty,  truth  and  virtue,  so  glori- 
ous an  example  must  spread  to  the  utmost  boundaries 
of  the  earth,  and  the  impious  tyrants  may  attempt  to  par- 
alyze the  most  active  power  of  Nature,  human  thought, 
which  ihey  have  done  by  cutting  off  all  moral  communi- 
cation by  scriptory  correspondence;  yet  a-s  the  moral 
horizoHrhad  acquired  a  strong  twilight,  the  sudden  facti- 
tious darkness  will  be  more  sensible,  and  humanity,  ap- 
palled, will  adore  every  glimpse  of  light,  that  must  pri- 
vately break  in  under  the  cloak  of  commerce,  and  every 
article  of  public  news  will  be  illumined  and  sanctified 
by  its  rarity  and  matter.  That  which  in  liberal  and  open 
communication  would  have  been  discussed,  will  now  be- 
come conviction,  sentiment  and  action;  and  the  tyrants 
'will  be  precipitated  into  that  abyss,  they  intended  for 
their  unhappy  subjects. 

Men  of  wisdom,  or  children  of  Nature,  form  a  wish 
no  doubt,  that  France  had  approached  the  haven  of  lib- 
erty with  the  breeze  of  reform,  rather  than  the  tempest  of 
revolution,  which  would  not  have  alarmed  the  tyrants  in 
their  neighborhood,  so  as  to  induce  them  to  spill  the 
hallowed  germ  of  moral  Nature,  in  the  womb  of  thought, 
or  cut  off  its  channel,  as  they  cannot  dry  up  its  source, 
and  under  the  common  interest  of  despotism  lead  their 


APOSTROPHE  TO   ENGLAND.  21 

"bands  of  slaves  in  crusades  against  liberty  in  France, 
which  will  probably  happen  should  a  general  peace  take 
place. 

O  England !  favorite  isle  of  Truth  and  Constitutional 
Liberty!  prepare  an  asylum  for  that  holy  divinity,  if  vice 
or  tyranny  should  banish  her  from  the  continent.  You 
are  the  only  nation  of  the  world  capable  of  approaching 
the  haven  of  happiness  by  the  breeze  of  gradual  reform. 
Extend  and  equalize  your  representation,  shorten  the 
duration  of  your  parliament,  consecrate  the  liberty  of  your 
press,  establish  a  negotiation  with  foreign  powers,  to 
check  the  spirit  of  ambition,  devastating  the  earth,  and 
annihilating  peace  and  happiness.  How  deplorable  is 
the  fate  of  humanity — how  defective  is  virtue,  when  one 
formidable  state  has  the  power  to  reform  the  universe,  if 
it  had  but  the  least  proportion  of  wisdom  or  virtue,  or 
had  but  the  magnanimity  to  attempt  so  glorious  an  enter- 
prize  !  Of  two  contending  nations,  urged  by  the  demon 
of  ambition,  which  would  dare  invade  the  territories  of 
its  rival,  if  England  became  the  umpire,  and  threatened 
the  aggressor? 

If  we  take  a  view  of  the  present  state  of  Europe,  and 
reflect,  that  all  nations  are  satisfied  with  the  present 
state  of  their  possessions,  and  yet  are  reciprocally  enga- 
ged in  destructive  wars  of  chimerical  policy  to  destroy 
them,  we  must  conclude,  that  mankind  are  wandering  un- 
der the  fascinations  of  ignorance  and  passion.  Whence 
comes  it,  that  individuals  emerging  from  the  errors  of  bar- 
barism, had  wisdom  enough  to  confederate  for  their  per- 
sonal security,  and  though  aided  by  the  deliberation  of 
collective  wisdom,  in  national  councils,  could  not  force 
the  boundaries  of  error  beyond  rthe  circle  of  national  in- 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

terest,  and  extend  confederacy  so  far  as  to  involve  the 
limits  of  the  whole  quarter  of  the  globe,  and  progressive- 
ly to  the  globe  itself,  which  would  certainly  be  the  pro- 
gress of  association,  if  founded  upon  the  principles  ot 
truth  and  reason.  We  must  then  conclude,  that  the  pre- 
sent principles  of  society  or  policy,  have  in  them  a  lea- 
ven whkh  corrupts  their  mass,  and  that  they  are  foun- 
ded upon  an  union  of  power  and  property,  to  guarantee 
and  augment  themselves,  without  regard  to  the  welfare  of 
the  greater  body  of  the  weak  and  poor,  whose  interest 
can  be  placed  only  on  the  basis  of  wisdom,  virtue,  truth 
and  happiness,  to  procure  the  well-being  of  mankind; 
and  these  virtues  can  proceed,  not  from  the  form  of  law 
or  policy,  but  only  from  the  extension  of  the  mental  fac- 
ulties, whose  force  operates  to  improve  the  volition  and 
to  procure  happiness  to  self  in  the  system  of  all  sensi- 
tive Nature. 


THE 

MORAL  STATE 

OF 

NATIONS. 


ENGLAND. 


I  BRING  this  country  first  under  consideration,  Ij 
the  world  are  agreed  in  giving  the  high  pre-eminence  o. 
thought,  or  mental  powers,  to  the  natives  of  this  island. 
This  opinion  I  do  not  respect  for  its  universality,  hut 
having  examined  it  closely,  and  hrought  it' to  the  test  ot 
experience,  hy  constant  observation,  I  find  it  to  be-  an  in- 
controvertible truth.  However,  that  I  may  not  be  subject 
to  the  suspicions  of  prejudice  in  holding  such  an  opinion 
in  favor  of  my  native  country,  I  shall  explain  my  experi- 
ence. 

The  excellence  or  supreme  power  of  the  intellectual 
faculties,  depends  on  their  capacity  to  form  the  greatest 
number  of  simultaneous  ideas,  or  [rather,]  to  take  in  at 
one  view,  the  different  relations  or  parts  of  the  object 
under  consideration.  As,  when  we  say,  government  is 
necessary  for  man;  a  weak  mind  views  the  object,  man, 
as  a  bad  being;  and  government  as  a  good  coercion,  A 
great  mind  takes  in  all  the  relations  and  connections  oS 


24  THE    MORAL   STATE    OF    ENGLAND. 

these  two  objects — considers  profoundly  the  nature  of 
man  and  of  government,  establishing  conclusions  conform- 
able to  their  present  state,  and  continuing  the  investi- 
gation which  liberal  speculation  adduces. 

The  English  peasant  in  conversation  with  his  lord> 
looks  down,  blushes,  scratches  his  head,  and  shows  eve- 
ry sign  of  extreme  sensibility;  while  the  capacity,  or  ope- 
rative power  of  his  intellect,  takes  a  simultaneous  view 
of  the  lord's  riches  and  his  own  poverty,  the  lord's  pow- 
er and  his  own  weakness,  the  lord's  knowledge  and  his 
own  ignorance ;  and  excites  the  passions  of  fear  and 
shame.  When  a  peasant  of  any  other  part  of  the  globe  is 
accosted  by  a  superior,  and  conversation  is  entered  into, 
the  questions  of  the  one  put  in  action  the  memory  of 
the  other,  which  keeps  the  imagination  from  operating,, 
and  which,  when  too  much  burthened,  oppresses  and  al- 
most annihilates  the  judgment.  The  foreign  peasant,  oc- 
cupied with  his  memory  alone,  to  furnish  an  answer  to 
his  lord,  discovers  no  agitation,  and  proves  that  he  has- 
neither  sensibility  nor  extensive  mental  faculty. 

It  is,  however,  a  curious  problem,  that  the  instinct  or 
memory  of  the  foreign  peasant  acts  right,  while  the  ex- 
tensive intellectual  faculty  of  the  English  peasant  does 
wrong.  The  following  observation  will  however  solve 
this  problem. 

Instinct  and  intellectual  existence  are  two  extremes 
in  the  essence  of  man ;  at  the  first  point  he  possesses 
happiness  without  conscientiousness,  and  at  the  last  he 
unites  both ;  but  in  his  progress  from  the  first  to  the  last, 
he  struggles  through  much  'ignorance  and  misery,  upon 
quitting  his  guide  Nature,  to  reach  the  goal  of  intellect. 

Whoever  takes  a  moral  view  of  the  English  nation, 
will  observe  that  in  approximating  the  goal  of  intellec- 
tual existence,  they  have  left  far  behind  them  all  other  na- 
tions ;  and  this  pre-eminence  they  mark  by  the  superior 
degree,  of  thought  or  consciousness  which  they  possess, 
while  the  very  inferior  degree  of  animal  happiness  they 
enjoy,  shows  that  they  are  still  very  distant  from  the  goal. 
The  reason  of  this  is,  that  their  mental  capacity  is  exter- 


EXCESSIVE    SENSIBILITY    OF   THE   ENGLISH.  25 

nally  employed  to  acquire  power,  riches  and  knowledge,, 
which  are  tbe  causes  of  much  pain  and  ignorance,  and 
these,  meeting  with  consciousness  and  thought,  conspire 
to  render  them  miserable.  When,  on  the  contrary,  the 
mental  capacity  shall  be  internally  employed  to  discover 
the  source  of  moral  motion  or  knowledge  of  self;  they 
will  then  arrive  at  the  goal  of  intellectual  existence,  when 
consciousness  and  thought  will  augment  the  happiness- 
sought  after,  and  procured  in  an  enlightened  state  of  Na- 
ture. 

The  greatest  field  for  observation  of  this  truth  is  in  do- 
mestic society.  Individuals,  when  forming  these  associ- 
ations, are  oppressed  with  silence  and  reserve.  That  this 
is  not  the  effect  of  apathy  or  stupidity,  is  discovered  by 
the  restless  and  uneasy  attitudes  of  the  men,  by  the  blush- 
es and  downcast  eyes  of  the  women,  which,  if  at  any 
time,  through  a  wonderful  effort  of  courage,  they  are  ele- 
vated to  a  horizontal  position,  seem  rather  wandering  in 
their  orbits,  to  look  for  an  asylum  from  the  regard  of 
others,  than  directed  with  benevolent  assurance  to  ine^t 
the  eyes  of  those  with  whom  they  converse.  This  em- 
barrassment proceeds  from  extr&me  sensibility,  or  great 
proportion  of  intellect,  which  is  constantly  reflecting  and 
revolving  within  its  own  sphere,  producing  extreme  ap- 
prehensions, and  reasoning  thus : 

"  If  I  speak,  I  may  say  something  impertinent,  as  to 
time,  place,  subject  or  person,  this  will  give  my  asso- 
ciates an  unfavorable  opinion  of  me ;  whereas,  if  I  keep 
silence,  I  shall  risk  no  criticism,  and  feel  no  mortifica- 
tions of  self  love,  by  encountering  an  argument  that  may 
prevail,  and  cause  the  impeachment  of  my  judgment.'* 

This  habit  of  reflection  keeps  the  mental  faculties  in 
constant  exercise,  and  gives  it  the  same  vigor  as  the 
body  acquires  from  corporeal  exercise,  and  forms  that 
real  capacity  of  mind  called  good  sense  or  sound  judg- 
ment. In  this  consists  the  pre-eminence  of  man  over 
man,  and  over  brutes ;  as  it  enables  him  to  take  a  com- 
prehensive view  of  the  past,  present  and  future,  to  dis- 
cover the  relation  of  different  events,  and  their  consequea- 


26  THE   MORAL    STATE    OF   ENGLAND. 

ces,  and  to  notice  such  only  as  have  an  effect  upon  his 
happiness  or  well-being,  which  is  the  only  object  worthy 
the  contemplation  of  a  great  and  wise  man. 

The.  activity  of  the  intellectual  powers  of  the  people  is 
to  be  discovered  in  their  deportment  in  the  social  rela- 
tuons  of  inferior  and  superior;  in  their  intercourse  em- 
barrassment is  testified  by  both  parties,  and  <  an  uneasy 
reserve  is  reciprocal.  What  can  this  proceed  from,  but, 
that  the  mind,  with  its  great  reflective  powers,  turns  over 
many  pages  of  tire  great  volume  of  memory ;  draws  forth 
matter  upon  which  it  reasons  relatively,  and  multiplies 
its  apprehensions  and  fears.  Thus,  when  the  lord  con- 
verses with  his  peasant,  the  latter,  with  downcast  eyes, 
and  agitation  of  mind  discoverable  by  a  thousand  awkward 
motions  of  the  body,  reasons  upon  the  extensive  ideas 
of  his  lord  conveyed  in  eloquent  language,  which  com- 
pared with  his  own,  humiliates  and  confounds  him ;  then 
he  reflects  upon  his  power,  and  comparing  it  with  his 
own  weakness,  he  is  alarmed,  and  almost  annihilated. 
The  conduct  is  almost  similar  between  the  lord  and  his 
sovereign,  the  soldier  and  general,  the  servant  and  master, 
the  lover  and  sweetheart ;  in  short,  through  all  the  so- 
cial relations  of  life,  this  active  power  of  the  mind,  or  its 
very  intimate  connection  with  the  body,  called  sensibility, 
is  the  only  universal  and  common  feature  which  marks 
the  character  of  the  English  nation. 

The  extensive  operation  of  the  mental  faculties  pro- 
ceeds, no  doubt,  [?]  from  a  greater  sensibility  in  the 
nerves  to  vibrate  strongly ;  and  these  receiving  the  con- 
cussions of  the  passions  with  more  violence,  increase  the 
powers  of  the  volition.  If  this  is  controlled  only  by  reli- 
gious or  political  laws,  the  sagacity  of  the  mind  breaks 
down  these  imaginary  limits,  and  urges  the  man  to  ac- 
tion; and  hence  the  cause  of  the  violent  character  of  the 
English  nation,  and  of  all  private  and  public  injustice 
committed  in  that  country. 

This  shows  that  sagacity  is  but  a  dangerous  and 
critical  degree  of  excellence,  at  which  the  human  mind 
arrives  in  its  progress  towards  wisdom,  or  the  source 


THE   EVIL  EXCESS    OF  THE   PASSIONS.  27 

of  moral  motion — the  knowledge  of  self.  When  it  reach- 
es this  acme  of  human  perfection,  the  breach  of  order 
would  be  treason  against  self-happiness. 

By  this  sensibility  or  intimate  connection  of  the  mo- 
ral and  physical  part  of  man,  the  passions  acquire  the 
same  power  as  the  understanding,  and  while  the  latter 
operates  with  its  penetrative  and  anticipative  powers,  to 
examine  the  volition  which  induces  action,  whether  it 
be  well  formed  for  the  future  and  present  well-being  of 
the  man,  or  in  other  words  productive  of  his  happiness; 
the  impujsive  and  collossal  force  of  the  passions  oppo- 
ses it  with  dreadful  violence,  and  precipitates  the  man  to 
decision  and  action,  whose  consequences  are  not  distant 
but  almost  instant  pain  and  misery,  though  veiled  with  a 
gauze  of  pleasure. 

Hence  is  the  origin  of  suicide,  robbery,  and  personal 
violence  of  every  kind,  which  occur  in  this  country  more 
frequently  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  globe. 

Hence  those  political  atrocities  of  the  people,  collec- 
tively to  sacrifice  the  civil  rights  of  mankind,  to  the 
base  and  detestable  advantages  of  a  mean  and  avaricious 
commerce,  testified  by  the  intrigues  of  the  English  Cabi- 
net with  the  Court  of  Berlin,  in  the  affairs  of  Holland, 
Flanders,  and  Poland ;  in  which  countries  they  support 
despotic  aristocracies  against  the  great  body  of  an  op- 
pressed and  enslaved  people.  Hence  the  support  of  their 
own  aristocracy,  the  most  abandoned,  shameful  and  prof- 
ligate of  any  upon  the  face  of  the  globe;  who,  not  satis- 
fied to  buy  one  half  of  their  constituents,  hire  bravos  and 
ruffians  to  beat  the  other  half  into  compliance.  O  Italy ! 
your  assassins  are  honorable,  compared  to  these  degene- 
rate miscreants.  It  is  the  violent  and  impetuous  passion 
of  love  that  directs  your  poniard  to  the  rival's  heart ;  but 
those  miscreants  sacrifice  for  a  crown  piece  and  a  pot  of 
porter,  the  lives  of  their  fellow  citizens,  and  the  happi- 
ness of  their  country ;  and  hold  out  an  example  that  dis- 
graces human  nature,  and  shows  men  so  depraved  as  to 
delight  in  the  most  atrocious  acts  of  deliberate  murder 
without  the  plea  of  temptation.  This  example  is  enough 


28  THE   MORAL    STATE    OF   ENGLAND. 

to  turn  virtue  into  misanthropy,  and  drive  good  men  to 
seek  an  asylum  in  the  forest  with  the  brutes. 

Hence  also,  the  English  political  hypocrisy  that  inter- 
feres with  empires  On  the  Continent,  to  check  inordinate 
ambition  that  may  invade  the  rights  or  provinces  of  oth- 
ers ;  while  they  assume  universal  empire  over  an  element, 
the  free  domain  of  Nature's  self.  And  when  the  world 
combined  in  an  armed  neutrality  to  assert  its  freedom, 
this  nation  threw  off  its  veil  of  hypocrisy  with  one  hand, 
and  with  the  other  snatching  the  trident  of  Neptune, 
with  the  audacity  of  a  ferocious  animal,  whose  mind  can 
anticipate  no  evil  and  therefore  knows  no  fear,  bid  defi- 
ance to  the  most  formidable  combination  of  power  in  the 
most  sacred  and  just  cause  ever  recorded  in  the  annals 
of  the  world. 

It  is  by  this  fatal  preponderance  of  passion  over  rea-  < 
son,  that  the  atrocious  and  damnable  TRADE  in^HuMAN  ' 
FLESH  is  sanctified;  an  act  so  infamous,  that  could  all  the 
crimes  which  history  records  be  collected  and  consoli- 
dated into  one,  it  would  lose  its  nature  of  atrocity,  and 
become  a  virtue,  when  placed  in  comparison  with  the 
slave  trade,  considered  with  the  double  flagitiousness  of 
first  buying  the  human  species,  and  then  destroying  them. 
It  is  inconceivable  that  an  assembly  of  a  nation  can  be 

fuilty  of  an  act  that  no  individual,  who  has  not  degraded 
imself  below  his  species,  and  familiarized  his  ear  to  the 
association  of  his  name  with  that  of  villain  and  scoun- 
drel, but  would  feel  a  horror  of  committing.  Though, 
legislative  accomplices  may  cover  his  shame,  and  screen 
him  from  public  censure ;  yet  how,  in  the  name  of  truth, 
if  he  possesses  a  well  organized  mind  and  body,  and  but 
a  common  share  of  reflection,  or  rather  the  pre-eminent 
and  characteristic  share  of  an  Englishman,  how  can  he 
esteem  himself,  when  conscience  will  ever  upbraid  him 
with  the  participation  in  an  act,  whose  flagitiousness  is 
so  great,  that  unless  he  renounces  the  character  of  man, 
his  very  share  would  be  sufficient  to  sink  him  under  the 
most  ignominious  contempt,  and  draw  upon  him  more 

' 

'  &&&*&/&   i  ; 

J 

•trt. 


THE    BARBARITY    OF    PUGILISM.  29 

4 

remorse  than  would  all  the^catalogue  of  acted  or  imagin- 
ed crimes  in  Nature. 

It  is  from  the  despotism  of  passion,  that  an  act  is  tol- 
erated in  this  kingdom,  which  would  make  savage  na- 

-  ^       tions  look  down  upon  them  with  pity :  I  mean  the  igno- 
minious and  base  practice  of  BOXING,  which  has  brok 
en  down  all  order  of  civilization,  and  deprived  men  of  a 

;N  defence,  which  is  enjoyed  in  the  most  miserable  state  of 
barbarism.  By  this  disgraceful  practice  the  less,  more 
familiar  and  more  frequent  foibles  and  passions  of  men  ; 
such  as  pride,  envy,  hatred  and  malice,  are  let  loose  to 
disturb  the  repose  of  society;  and  the  safety  of  a  man's 
person  is  at  the  mercy  of  every  skilful  boxer,  or  stronger 

*\*        man.  t* If  the  parent  or  guardian  who  has  the  child  or  or- 

Sx      phan  under  the  arm  of  protection,  should  meet  these  ruf- 

tfian?,  and  her  beauty  should  elicit  their  ferocious  regards, 
^        there  is  nothing  that  can  oppose  their  brutal  desires,  or 
impertinent  freedoms.     The  parent  who  may  retort  the 
^        instilling  language  offered  to  innocence  and  modesty,  be- 

*  comes  the  martyr  of  his  own  virtue;  and  as  his  skill, 
£  '£f   which  has  been  .occupied  only  in  the  parental  care  of  fil- 

•  ial  education,  must  succumb  to  the  gymnastic  skill  of  the 
ruffian,  the  law  gives  no  remedy  to  the  beaten,  and  de- 
mands no  vengeance  for  the  murdered.     Alas!  such  is 

^  X  the  state  °f  civilization  in  a  country,  whose  character  is 
v  «*  wisdom,  philosophy  and  philanthropy.  Under  what  form 
v/,  ??* does  the  demon,  Error,  theA  great  enemy  of  human  happ'i- 
ij  isj  ness,  thus  shamefully  and  completely  triumph  over  these 
^v  virtues. 

Nothing  proves  so  evidently  as  this  base  practice  of 
personal  assault,  how  incapable  the  human  mind  is  while 
its  faculties  operate  externally  in  contriving  civil  and  so- 
cial institutions,  in  order  to  preserve  property,  as  if  hu- 
^  ^'  man  happiness  had  no  other  basis:  for  personal  safety 
is  given  up  as  a  matter  beyond  acquisition,  or  not  neces- 
sary lo  well-being,  the  end  of  all  social  union. 

This  violence,  known  in  no  other  part  of  the  world 
but  England,  may  probably  be  a  check  upon  the  sensi- 
Mlity  peculiar  to  this  nation,  which  seems  to  demand  a 

3* 


30  TttE  MORAL  STATE  OF  ENGLAND. 


more  powerful  control  thanv  civil  laws,  which  suffice  to 
procure  subordination  in  omer  societies  where  the  pas- 
sions have  less  force,  and  existence  less  animation.  But 
a  general  and  critical  inspection  of  society  into  the  char- 
acters of  individuals,  would  have  a  more  powerful  effect. 
This  practice  supports  only  a  vain  pride,  to  be  thought 
braver  than  another,  without  reflecting,  that  valor  unac- 
companied by  virtue,  is  brutality  and  ignorance  ;  and  this 
passion  should  be  changed  into  sentiment  of  self-estima- 
tion, arising  from  a  consciousness  of  utility  in  producing 
happiness  to  self,  as  the  centre,  and  all  animated  Nature, 
as  the  circle,  of  which  sympathy  forms  the  constant  and 
spontaneous  tadii. 

It  is  said  this  practice  promotes  courage  in  the  people. 
How  can  this  be  proved  ?  We  observe  in  the  conduct  of 
many  nations,  who  give  great  and  splendid  examples  of 
valor,  that  they  look  upon  this  practice  as  a  mark  of 
cowardice,  and  having  received  a  blow,  as  its  indelible 
stamp.  When  I  reflect  on  this  contrasted  conduct  .and 
opinions  of  nations,  I  am  induced  to  believe,  that  were 
.naked  swords  opposed  to  the  combatants,  instead  of 
doubled  fists,  they  would  retire  with  trembling  from  the 
stage.  It  is  observed  also  in  defence  of  this  practice, 
that  courtesy  and  decency  of  conversation  is  produced 
or  enforced  by  it  ;  this  may  be  true  as  to  public  conver- 
sation in  company  ;  for  certainly  a  man  will  be  cautious 
in  speech,  when  his  friends  who  appear  around  him  are 
all  armed  with  the  axe  of  the  executioner,  that,  should 
his  tongue  make  a  'slip,  and  accidentally  or  unwittingly 
offend  the  irritable  temper  of  a  fellow  guest,  his  eye 
must  be  knocked^  out,  as  an  expiatory  sacrifice  to  his 
idol,  arid  offended  passion.  But  this  will  never  stop 
the  mouth  of  calumny,  that  acts  the  more  effectually,  as 
more  secretly  to  destroy  reputation.  Vice  will  ever  be 
censured  and  exposed;  and  it  would  be  more  for  the 
safety  of  honor  and  virtue  that  the  public  trial  of  con- 
versation was  permitted  and  uncontrolled. 

There  is  another  barbarous  practice  fostered  and  sani> 
*tkmed  hy  this  enlightened  nation;  I  mean  DUELLING  •:—  • 


THE   INJUSTICE    OF   DUELLING.  31 

this  is  more  dangerous,  anymore  disgraceful  than  the 
former,  as  its  consequences  are  more   fatal.     It  is  the 
harpy  of  prejudice,  that  in  a  moment  snatches  the  pa- 
rent from  the  bosom  of  .his  family,  and  leaves  the  orphans 
and  widow  destitute  of  support.     Nothing  testifies  HO 
much   the  despotism  of  error,    as  this   practice.     The 
dark  ignorance  of  men  has  attached  the  word  honor  to  a 
privation  of  the  fear  of  death,  and  when  the  parties  make 
this  appeal,   whatever  may  be  the  criminality,  for  there 
must  be  some  on  one  side  or  the  other,  the  victim  and 
the  vanquished  are  both  adjudged  innocent.     The  apolo- 
gy for  this  prejudice  is,  the  prevention  of  calumny.    Alas! 
how  long  will  men  remain  dupes  to   their   ignorance  ! 
Calumny  is  enforced  by  being  obliged  to  secrecy,  and 
therefore  more  effectual  and  more  dangerous.     Truth  has 
'nothing  to  fear  from  the  open  discussion  of  table  con- 
versation, and  vice  would  here   find   some  advantages, 
of  which  secret  calumny  deprives  it.     Whence  comes  it, 
that  we  see  senators  laying  aside  the  dignity  of  their 
character,   and  meeting  personally  the  enemies  of  their 
country,  whose  conduct  their  duty  obliges  them  to  rep- 
robate in  the  senate;  removing  the  terrors  and  disgrace 
of  the  law,  which  should  act  as  a  sacred  barrier  against 
the  resentment  of  a  disappointed  traitor,     tt  is  the  terror 
of  the  ridicule  of  fools;  they  have  courage  enough  to 
die,  but  they  have  not  magnanimity  enough  to  live.     They 
have  neither  wisdom,  nor  dignity  of  mind  enough  to  dis- 
tinguish between   animal  and  intellectual   courage;  the 
former  every  soldier  supplies  for  six-pence  a-day — the 
latter  -should  be  the  property  of  the  citizen,  and  expose 
his  life  only  when  virtue  and  wisdom  call  in  the  defence 
of  his  country,  or  his  fellow-creature.     How  deplorable 
is  the  lot  of  humanity,  when   error  thus  triumphs  over 
wisdom,  and  prejudice  of  opinion  can  legalize  and  mo- 
ralize the  most  atrocious  crime  in  nature — a  cool,  pre- 
pared, reflected,  and  deliberate  murder  of  a  fellow-crea- 
ture.    The  mode  of  reasoning  upon  relative  truth,   may, 
perhaps  be  used  to  justify  this  act,   as  it  does  all  the 
of  civil,  domestic  -and  national  policy ;  and  if  we 


32  THE   MORAL   STATE   OF   ENGLAND. 

view  the  monster  luxury,  that  with  vast  strides  overruns 
this  country,  and  compels,  with  gigantic  menace,  every 
individual  to  over-leap  the  .bounds  of  his  income,  to  es- 
cape a  blow  from  its  enormous  club  ;  it  is  necessary  that 
some  force  should  counteract  these  fears,  and  stop  his 
flight,  lest  he  precipitate  himself  into  the  abyss  of  destruc- 
tion, and  draw  society  after  him  by  his  dreadful  example 
and  connections. 

It  is  here  that  this  barbarous  custom  of  duelling,  which 
erects  every  society  into  a  tribunal,  and  makes  of  every 
guest  an  executioner,  arrests  the  monster  in  his  devas- 
tating course.  The  man  of  luxury,  vice  urges  to  se- 
duce and  betray  the  confidence  of  a  generous  friend,  by 
robbing  him  of  his  property  under  the  specious  pretext 
of  borrowing  what  he  knows  he  cannot,  and  may  be,  nev- 
er intends  to  repay.  The  friend,  whom  the  oppression  of 
want,  and  not  vice,  urges  to  demand  the  promised  pay- 
ment; disappointment  on  one  hand — debauchery  and  dis- 
tress on  the  other,  dictates  severe  language,  which  aug- 
ments into  reproach  and  insult,  and  terminates  at  last  by 
the  dreadful,  and  often  foreseen  appeal  of  duel  and  death. 
This  operates  among  the  class  of  mankind,  where  lux- 
ury is  most  active  and  most  dangerous.  >The  more  mod- 
erate class  of  men  are  kept  in  bounds  by  the  severity  of 
the  law  against  debtors. 

The  barbarous  practice  of  duelling  destroys  the  super- 
structure, as  boxing  does  the  base  of  society,  and  leaves 
man,  after  many  ages  of  improvement  in  knowledge 
founded  upon  a  world  of  experience,  in  a  state  of  savage 
Nature. 

This  proves  that  the  mind  has  not  yet  ripened  to  a 
state  of  intellectual  existence,  or  found  means  to  invert 
its  faculties  upon  self,  and  withdraw  them  from  all  ob- 
jects of  no 'immediate  importance  to  happiness,  which 
serve  only  as  men  of  erudition,  and  nick-named  philoso- 
phers have  declared,  to  divert  them  from  an  intolerable 
,  state  of  languor  or  te<iium,  the  contemplation  of  self. 
And  h<:nce  the  cause,  that  man  has  not  yet  dared  to  pass 
the  bounds  of  animal  existence;  as  learned  men  have  de- 


THE   CONDUCT   OF   CRIMINALS.  33 

clared  intellectual  existence  to  be  a  state  of  wretchedness 
and  misery. 

Among  the  moral  singularities  of  this  country,  I  must 
take  notice  of  the  conduct  of  MALEFACTORS. 

This  class  of  unhappy  men,  who,  for  want  of  educa- 
tion, are  not  provided  with  sufficient  power  of  reason  to 
anticipate  the  evil  their  uncontrolled  and  impetuous 
passions  bring  upon  them,  are  more  numerous  and  ac- 
tive in  this  country  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world ; 
and  even  while  they  violate,  in  the  most  daring  manner, 
the  law  and  collective  force  of  society,  seem  cautious  not 
to  offend  the  principles  of  humanity  by  acts  of  cruelty,  as 
is  customary  with  robbers  in  almost  every  other  part  of 
the  globe.  This  contrast  is  owing  to  that  wonderful  sen- 
sibility in  the  constitution  of  an  Englishman,  which  is 
the  parent  of  SYMPATHY — which  comprehends  the  es- 
sence and  nature  of  all  virtue ;  every  other  virtue  being 
but  conventional. 

This  sensibility,  which  is  universally,  specifically  and 
,solely  the  characteristic  of  the  English  nation,  predomi- 
nates over  the  mind,  though  powerful  from  habits  of  re- 
flection, and  renders  it  impatient  under  every  deprivation 
and  restraint.  Rather  than  submit  to  the  trifling  incon- 
veniences caused  by  the  capricious  instability  of  fortune, 
the  Englishman  defies  the  terrors  of  the  law,  and  seizes 
violently  on  the  highway  the  property  of  his  fellow  citi- 
zens, to  procure  to  him  his  habitual  luxuries,  and  his  un- 
|  controllable  desire  of  immediate  and  present  happiness, 
i  Opposed  to  the  tyranny  of  impetuous  passion,  he  hears 
!from  the  pulpit  the  pains  of  hell  announced.  These  me- 
naces, the  strength  of  his  mental  faculties  teaches  him  to 
laugh  at;  and  temporal  punishment — hope  seduces  him 
to  escape  from ;  and  passion  thus  suborning  hope,  indu- 
ces him  to  betray,  while  he  intends  and  thinks  to  love 
and  benefit  himself.  For  surely  the  mind  is  the  dupe 
of  the  heart,  when  man,  in  order  to  gratify  a  momentajry 
desire  of  a  fleeting  pleasure,  violates  the  personal  liberty 
of  a  fellow-creature,  which  brings  upon  himself  a  long 
And  painful  exile^  or  a  sudden  death. 


34  THE   MORAL   STATE   OF   ENGLAND. 

Sensibility  in  the  mind  that  has  strength  to  control 
the  passions,  and  direct  them  to  procure  the  well-being 
of  the  animal,  for  which  purpose  they  appear  to  have  been 
formed,  expands  existence,  augments  animation,  and  be- 
gets that  wonderful  and  immortal  affection — Sympathy, 
which  carries  man  to  the  highest  point  of  eminence  in  the 
scale  of  animated  Nature.  It  is  this  sensibility,  that, 
when  associated  with  weak  mental  faculties,  urges  men 
to  prefer  momentary,  to  constant  pleasure;  to  prefer  the 
fleeting  titillations  of  the  heart,  to  durable,  constitutional 
happiness,  or  moral  health ;  the  result  of  an  extensive 
reflection,  anticipating  evil,  and  calculating  by  means  of  a 
nice,  comparative  examination  of  relations  and  conse- 
quences, the  balance  of  good  or  evil,  to  be  procured  by 
the  passion  about  to  be  exercised,  or  the  act  to  execute 
the  volition. 

When  sensibility  is  unassociated  with  reason,  man 
then  becomes  a  monster,  and  forms  society  of  "  mohawks, 
bullies,  prickers  and  hired  mobs;"  which  monsters  this 
country  may  (to  the  honor  of  the  rest  of  the  world,) 
claim  as  its  own  specific  and  sole  productions.  There 
are  many  other  slaves  of  passion  or  brutal  sensibility, 
who  disturb  the  dignity  and  decorum  of  places  of  public 
resort,  as  theatres,  public  walks  and  streets;  by  these, 
blows  are  preferred  to  amicable  discussion  and  persua- 
sion of  speech.  This  conduct  is  the  scandal  of  stran- 
gers who  are  present,  and  the  misery  and  terror  of  svm- 
pathetic  minds,  which,  for  the  honor  of  the  country^  form 
the  far  greater  part  of  the  audience.  In  the  streets  we 
have  many  deplorable  instances  of  this  brutal  sensibility, 
which  induces  the  more  ferocious  to  be  the  victims,  and 
the  spectators  no  less  brutal,  to  form  a  circle  to  promote 
the  destruction  of  fellow-creatures  as  an  object  of  plea- 
sure. This  act  is  the  more  atrocious,  as  it  is  the  col- 
lective and  unanimous  act  of  a  great  body  of  the  people ; 
but  for'the  honor  of  humanity,  it  is  known  only  in  Eng- 
land. In  all  the  nations  I  have  visited,  I  never  saw  an 
instance,  where  the  animosity  of  individuals  broke  out 
into  personal  assault,  but  the  great  body  of  spectators 


THE   CRUELTY   OP   HUNTING.  35 

interfered,  not  only  to  impede  personal  injury,  but  to  re-  j 

concile  a  future  amity.  &  v*  fe  *N',  -/•*"%> 

This  brutal  sensibility  has  turned  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence of  society  in  a  state  of  barbarism,  into  an  uni- 
versal modern  pastime  ;  I  mean  the  cruel  pleasure  of  the 
CHASE.  Here  the  demon  error,  under  the  cloak  of  cus- 
tom, and  the  encouragement  of  example,  fortifies  the  heart 
of  man  against  the  omnipotent,  hallowed  and  immortal 
affection  of  sympathy.  Here  we  see  those  men  occupied, 
who  in  the  scale  of  relative  truth  bear  unspotted  char- 
*acters,  join  their  savage  yells  to  the  barking  of  the  less 
savage  dogs,  and  measure  their  brutal  sensation  of  plea- 
sure by  the  standard  of  duration  and  sufferance  of  the 
agonizing  pain  of  the  animal  hunted  ;  and  forfeit  the 
only  plea  of  humanity,  that  of  self-defence  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  a  general  enemy. 

The  cruelties  of  mankind  committed  on  the  brute  cre- 
ation are  falsely  apologized  for  by  the  plea  of  utility;  as 
the  forcing  them  to  destructive  labor,  to  procure  the  con- 
veniences of  life,  and  putting  them  to  death  to  procure 
aliment. 

The  great  activity  which  civilization  has  pr6duced 
among  mankind,  by  associating  them  as  individuals,  and 
separating  them  as  nations,  among  whom  the  same  com- 
petitions and  jealousies  subsist,  as  among  individuals  in 
a  state  of  Nature,  promotes  industry  with  such  enthusi- 
asm, that  man  and  beasts  are  mutual  victims  thereto; 
this  procures  wealth,  and  wealth  power ;  and  these  uni- 
ted are  the  end  of  civilization,  and  the  acme  of  human 
happiness ! 

As  truth,  considered  relatively,  forces  mankind  to  this 
treatment  of  the  brute  creation,  it  may  plead  an  excuse 
for  man  in  an  animal  state  of  existence,  but  a  mind  in  an 
intellectual  state,  that  by  sympathy  feels  itself  a  part  of 
all  Nature,  which  in  futurity  will  change  that  component 
part  into  beast,  offers  no  plea,  as  it  sees  no  necessity 
to  violate  the  life  or  liberty  of  an  innocent  animal,  be- 
cause the  aliment  of  life  may  be  procured  from  the  vege- 
.,  table  world,  and  that  produced  by  his  own  labors  ^<and 

&#*&> 

;• 

. 


38  THE    MORAL   STATE    OF   ENGLAND. 


such  aliment  procures  bodily  and  mental  health,  by  sa- 
lubriatiHg  the  humors  of  the  one,  and  tranquillizing  the 
passions  of  the  other.  Here,  then,  utility,  or  a  greater 
degree  of  happiness,  is  the  universal  motive  which  puts 
in  action,  intellectual  existence. 

But  what  plea  can  be  offered  for  that  preposterous 
passion,  or  habit  of  mind,  acquired  by  custom,  to  de- 
stroy animals,  not  for  the  necessity,  but  the  pleasure' 
of  destroying  them.  This  practice  alone  proves  what 
little  progress  the  mind  has  made  towards  intellectual 
existence.  Notwithstanding  this  practice  is  too  common 
in  every  part  of  the  globe,  yet  the  sacred  truth  of  sym- 
pathy, the  virtue  of  Nature-remains  unimpeached,  as  sup- 
ported by  minds  of  great  sensibility. 

Men  of  refined  understanding  are  never  addicted  to 
this  vice,  and  women  who  should  delight  in  the  butchery 
of  the  chase,  should  unsex  themselves,  and  be  regarde'd 
as  monsters :  and  these  instances  alone  fix  the  truth  of 
sympathy,  as  an  efficient  and  universal  motive  to  bring 
man  to  intellectual  existence,  and  an  enlightened  state 
of  Nature*;  when  all  violence  shall  cease,  and  man  shall 
will  for  himself  alone,  or  reciprocally  assimilate  that  of 
his  fellow-creatures,  by  instruction  and  persuasion,  con- 
ducted by  truth  and  probity. 

This  brutal  pleasure  claims  also,  as  a  sacrifice  to  the 
impious  crime  of  ingratitude,  the  tender  body  of  the  tim- 
orous stagjWho  interchanges  his  life  with  man,  and  -fur- 
nishes a  wholesome  aliment;  why  does  not  he  enjoy  the 
same  privilege  as  the  inoffensive  sheep,  whose  transform- 
ation is  procured  with  the  least  pain  and  torment  by  the 
expeditious  knife?  And  why  is  this  trepidating,  timo- . 
rous,  weeping,  half-humanized  animal,  with  sensibility 
selected  by  the  select  of  mortals,  called  kings,  to  pro- 
cure, by  agonizing  pain,  testified  by  almost  human  tears,  ^ 
joy  to  that  heart,  which  if  it  possesses  real  excellence, 
should  possess  superior  sympathy?  Can  this  heart  of 
excellency  or  royalty  (which  should  mean  excellency  if 
it  means  any  thing,)  be  so  perverted  and  unnatural,  as  to 
receive  emotions  of  pleasure  from  causes  of  pity,  repay  y 


. 


THE    FOLLY    OP   INTEMPERANCE.  37 

tears  with  laughter,  shrieks  of  pain  with  acclamations  of 
joy,  and  duration  of  misery  with  the  cheerfulness  of 
hope  !  The  relief  of  torment  by  instantaneous  death — 
shall  that  cause  angry  disappointment,  and  shall  those 
who  can  feel  no  sympathy  with  the  heart-rending  groans 
of  the  victim,  join  only  with  the  blood-hounds,  from 
whose  ravenous  fangs  the  huntsman  snatches  the  prey, 
in  the  bowlings  of  disappointed  brutality?  And  shall 
they  afterwards  claim  an  excellence  over  their  fellow 
creatures,  when  they  degrade  themselves  by  assimilating 
in  passions  to  the  brute  creation?  O  poverty!  though 
thou  art  in  the  endurement  of  the  imperious  passions  of 
hunger,  thirst  and  love,  thou  art  to  be  adored,  and  not 
dreaded:  thou  art  debarred  these  brutal  pleasures,  ene- 
mies to  sympathy. — They  are  necessary  tempests,  to 
keep  from  putrefaction  the  stagnated  waters  of  a  depra- 
ved heart;  while  sympathy,  like  a  mild  zephyr,  undulates 
the  regular  tides,  which  flow  and  re-flow  from  Self  to 
Nature  in  the  boundless  ocean  of  a  benevolent  heart,  and 
the  injustice  of  power  of  the  higher  order  of  men,  to  de* 
prive  the  inferior  of  the  rights  of  Nature,  is  abundantly 
atoned  for. 

To  this  characteristic  and  brutal  sensibility  is  to  be 
attributed  the  national  vice  of  DRUNKENNESS;  a  crime 
the  more  odious  and  atrocious,  as  being  the  greatest  ene- 
my to  Reason, — the  greatest  friend  to  mankind.  Thia 
passion  becomes  imperious  from  habit,  and  gives  to  man 
an  indifference  for  the  innocent  and  beneficent  pleasures, 
as  dancing,  music,  love,  sports  and  pastimes,  and  corpo- 
real exercises.  It  is  this  passion  which  causes  the  pa- 
rent to  sacrifice  the  comfort  and  subsistence  of  a  family, 
to  obtain  a  few  moments'  relief  from  the  pangs  of  remorse, 
in  the  delirium  of  folly,  which  for  a  moment  appeases 
while  it  prepares  a  ten-fold  proportion  of  misery  in  the 
loss  of  mental  and  corporal  health.  It  is  this  folly  that 
opens  a  dreadful  field  to  that  giant-prejudice,  private  com- 
bat; and  friendship,  which,  in  more  rational  moments, 
opposes  the  only  barrier  to  his  violence,  is  here  singled 


3  THE  MORAL  STATE;  OF  ENGLAND. 

out,  as  a  delicious  morsel  to  glut  his  sanguinary  appe-» 
tile,  and  let\ves  him  a  complete  triumph  over  law  and 
civilization,  the  protectors  of  mankind. 

The  vice  of  drunkenness  offers  a  delusive  asylum  to  a 
mind  oppressed  with  the  cares  of  life,  and  the  hospitable 
host  at  first,  like  the  blandishing  harlot,  caresses  and 
comforts  in  lascivious  embraces,  and  dismisses  at  length, 
with  empty  pockets,  and  an  infected  constitution. 

Civilization,  with  its  extravagant  and  unnatural  refine- 
ments, demands  so  much  activity  and  industry  from 
every  individual,  to  keep  pace  with  the  velocity  of  its 
orbit,  that  where  any  one  from  extreme  sympathy  or  pro- 
bity, finds  his  motion  retarded,  his  respiration  becomes* 
painful,  if  not  aided  by  great  intellect  vial  capacity,  an4 
he  seeks  relief  from  the  oblivion  of  intoxication,  and  sac- 
rifices the  basis  of  happiness,  health,  to  its  superstruc- 
ture, pleasure. 

It  is  a  matter  of  much  wonder  to  obsen'-e,  that  while 
Nature  in  the  moral  and  physical  world  produces  a  va- 
riety of  capricious  combinations,  or  lusus  naturae,  that 
she  has  not  yet  sported,  in  the  political  work?,  an  union 
of  integrity  and  ability  to  form  a  king  or  minister:  But 
••what  augments  the  wonder  is,  that,  moral  aptitude  or  fit- 
ness is  constantly  presenting  this  matter  to  creation  ; 
for  true  ability  implies  iutegrit-y,  and  the  reverse. 

A  minister  whose  prevalent  motive  is  the  applause  of 
his.  country,  would  be  sure -to  obtain  it  by  absolute  integ- 
rity; but  in  temporizing  with  prejudice  and  custom,  he 
balr.jys  an  integrity  that,  is  only  comparative,  and  keeps 
but  at  a  little  distance  from  dismissed  and  unpopular  pre- 
decessors, and  proves  how  averse  Nature  is  to  produce 
that  political  phenomenon — an  honest  minister;  which 
would  be  such  a  prodigy  in  the  moral  world,  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  calculate  its  effects  upon  the  hap- 
piness of  all  mankind,  which  could  not  fail  to  be  of  the 
utmost  magnitude,  as  would  be  the  esteem  and  venera- 
tion paid  to  his  person. 

It  is  this  predominancy  of  impetuous  passion   over 


THE   DEPRAVITY  OF  POLITICS.  39 

'powerful  reason,  that  induces  the  senator  to  sell  himself 
to  a  sovereign  ;  to  betray  the  country — and  what  coun- 
try !  a  country  enlightened,  generous  and  iree  to  know 
his  conduct,  to  reward  it,  and  to  render  him  happy. 
How  lamentable  to  observe,  that  in  this  land  of  genius, 
virtue  and  truth,  Nature  has  yet  produced  no  public  char- 
acter, where  they  have  completely  triumphed,  led  on  bv 
witfJom,  to  obtain  untarnished  laurels  for  the  victor  of 
which  the  conduct  of  the  late  Lord  Chatham  furnishes 
an  humiliating  instance.  His  ambition,  (like  the  rage  of 
avarice,  duping  its  votary,  giving  shadow  for  substance,) 
reduced  him  with  the  tinsel  glare  of  title,  from  the  pin- 
nacle of  glory,  and  brought  the  splendid  sun  of  his  politi- 
cal fame  to  a  precipitate  decline,  under  the  dark  horizon 
of  oblivion,  and  left  such  an  indelible  blot  on  the  char- 
acter of  patriotism,  that  it  has  ever  since  become  a  term 
of  reproach. 

Among  the  various  factions  that  have  constantly  ami 
.still  continue  to  agitate  this  happy  isle,  the  present  ap- 
pears to  be  the  most  alarming.  It  is  formed  by  a  union 
of  the  first  talents  and  abilities  of  the  kingdom,  deprived 
of  every  virtue  but  liberality,  which  standing  alone,  has 
degenerated  into  licentiousness. 

Administration,  headed  by  a  minister  in  possession  of 
talents  and  virtue  united,  would  triumph  easily  over  a 
ruinous  faction,  though  supported  with  the  greatest  abil- 
ities :  but  the  increase  of  luxury,  the  corruption  of  man- 
ners, and  the  avaricious  principle  of  self-interest,  de- 
stroying patriotism ;  while  the  rxigencies  of  the  state, 
caused  by  an  immense  public  debt,  demand  uncommon 
sacrifices  of  personal  interest  from  every  citizen,  and 
forms  a  favorable  conjuncture  to  the  insidious  combat 
of  a  vicious  interested  faction. 

I  have  viewed  this  conjuncture  with  all  the  impartiali- 
ty of  a  philosopher  and  citizen  of  the  world,  and  it  ap- 
pears to  me  to  be  a  combat  of  vice  and  virtue. 

The  arms  with  which  vice  combats  in  the  hands  of  the 
present  dangerous  faction,  are  the  temptations  of  person- 
al interest  and  personal  liberty,  held  out  in  the  opposi- 


40  THE   MORAL  fcfATE   OP   ENGLAND. 

tion  given  to  taxes  and  democratical  innovations  in  the 
system  of  the  constitution;  and  it  seems  a  problem,  that 
they  have  not  gained  the  victory,  as  their  enemy,  a  virtu- 
ous minister  is  obliged,  by  taxes  and  order,  to  oppress 
and  control  the  great  body  of  the  people,  and  by  that 
means  furnish  an  insidious  faction  with  arms  against 
himself. 

This  problem  can  be  solved  only  by  considering  the 
•opposite  characters  of  the  two  parties. 

The  minister  possesses  that  vernacular  English  char- 
acter of  probity,  prudence,  thoughtfulness  and  candor; 
and  this  attracts  the  congeniality  of  the  English  people. 

The  character  of  the  faction  is  the  reverse — cunning 
it  substituted  for  probity,  extravagance  for  prudence,  ac- 
tivity for  tboughtfulness,  and  ingenuity  for  candor;  and 
this* character  repels  in  the  same  proportion  the  other 
attracts.  The  body  of  the  people  pressed  down  by  the 
weight  of  taxes,  and  incommoded  by  the  restraint  of  le- 
gal liberty,  moves  on  to  unite  with  the  very  source  of 
these  inconveniences,  and  flies  from  the  blandishments 
of  the  faction  as  from  a  political  harlot,  who  promises 
present  pleasure,  but  betrays  her  victim  to  future  pain. 
And  thus  the  faction  assuming  the  character  of  the  guar- 
<lians  of  liberty,  toeing  suspected  by  the  people,  induces 
them  to  place  a  dangerous  confidence  in  their  minister, 
which  though  his  virtue  might  not  abuse,  would  grow 
into  habit,  and  expose  them  to  the  treachery  of  wicked 
•successors. 

It  is  wonderful  to  observe,  that  a  nation  excelling  all 
•others  in  the  strength  of  intellectual  capacity,  should  in 
•a  great  collective  assembly  of  its  abilities,  be  confound- 
ed, inlposed  upon  and  betrayed,  by  an  impertinent  lo- 
gomachy, which  is  stiled  abilities.  Velocity  of  thought 
and  speech  is  here  constantly  directed  to  triumph,  and 
not  to  the  investigation  of  truth.  This  can  be  effected 
only  by  colloquial  discourse,  and  all  long  orations  con- 
found and  perplex  it. 

The  vanity  of  triumph  in  argument  is  the  cause  of  all 
error  in  public  or  private  discussions.  Man  will  not 


THE    DEPRAVITY  OF    HM.STICS.  41 

suffer  a  momentary   suspicion  of  the  inferiority  of 
judgment,  and  he  prefers   to  triumph    verbally    in  en-'-:-, 
rather  than   arrive   at  truth  by  noui  t,  and  deiiUT.it 
flection,  which    avoid  decisive  dogmatic   assertions, 
•moves  forward  with  the  gravity  of  dount.  aiui  not  ti;- 
locity  of  articulated  air,  seekiny;  truth  and  not  tr.mnj 
its  object. 

The   present  conjuncture    prognosticates    the   di- 
and   fall    of  the   British    empiiv.      Virtue,    its    trim 
grown  old,   and  vice   spreads    wit's   iiivat    luxuriant 
ponderous  branches  to  subv«  rt   its   p -rent  stock,  v\      \ 
the  tempest  shall  arrive.     To  an  olisurvarit  ey  ,  vice     .x 
grown  so  bold,  as  not  only  to  refuse  all  connections  wit-i 
virtue,  but   standing  alone,   has   chosen    leaders,    wi;o- : 
Dualities  are  dissipation  and  licentiousness,  to  prove  as 
audacity. 

Ministers  are  brought  from   a  giming  table,  and  \    : 
highest   magistrates  are  sought,  for  in  sponging  hou  -^ , 
Who,  that  has  the  least  spark  of  wisdom  in  his  mind, 
virtue  in  his  soul,  to  produce  the  austerity  of  the  Dn^ 
character,  but  feels  the   highest  indignation    for  t, 
front  offered  to  the  dignity,  and  the  alarm  given   i< 
sifcty  of  the  nation.     What     <an   the  man  do,  u 
tempestuous  and  agitated  passions  delight  in  tne  s. 
and  tempests  of  play ;  pleased  on;y  as  a  friend  is  ru 
content  only  with  existence,  in  proportion  as  it  be« 
precarious;  and  living  on  a   point  or  moment,  \v 
the  prudence  and  caution  of  foresight  and  rtfl    tic 
Is  such  a  character  compatible  with  the  otli       > 
magistrate;  on  whose  prudence,   dignity,   s<« 
tranquil  reflection,   depends   the  s-.uety  au-i 
millions?     Will   he   be  desirous  or   uble   i- 
ll^em    what   he  cannot,  am  i   »visi  <  -    not   t<> 
himself?     Will  not  the  .activ.iy  Oi  is-s  p.iss 
the  nation  in  all   the  disqu,.  tu.u-  ni       •»  o\% 
while  he  stakes  hf* -existence,  t-si  i    i, 

the  moment,  upon  an  ace  of  spadt-s.  \vui  ti 
the   nation   be   of  greater  estimation?  or  A          i 
staked  frequently  upon  the  axe  of  war  ? 

4* 


42  THE   MORAL    STATE    OF   ENGLAND. 

What  integrity  or  economy  can  be  expected  from  the 
man  whose  insensibility  render*  him  deaf  to  the  cries  ot 
distressed  creditors;  and  who,  from  the  infamy  of  legal 
executions,  is  elevated  to  the  highest  post  of  confidence 
and  importance,  as  supreme  magistrate  ?  Will  he  treat 
the  nation  with  more  justice?  And  he,  who  has  not 
prudence  or  foresight  to  preserve  himself  from  an  abyss 
of  distress,  shall  he,  by  the  exercise  of  those  faculties, 
in  regulating  a  complete  and  most  delicate  constitution, 
secure  liberty,  virtue  and  happiness  to  the  British  empire? 
When  such  characters  assume  the  magistracy  of  the 
state,  corruption,  that  has  hitherto  been  measured  by  ex- 
pediency and  necessity,  will  then  become  absolute.  Pa- 
triotism and  English  austerity  will  be  terms  of  reproach, 
and  rogue  and  knave  be  terms  of  glory ;  as  they  imply 
splendid  talents  and  abilities,  or  more  properly  low  cun- 
ning, or  left-handed  wisdom. 

The  very  characters  stigmatized  by  the  National  As- 
sembly of  France,  as  unworthy  of  the  rights  of  citizens, 
in  England  aspire  to  the  supreme  magistracy;  and  this 
single  instance  among  many  other  inconsistencies  of  hu- 
manity, forces  speculation,  after  the  most  profound  in- 
vestigation, to  continue  in  doubt  and  discussion. 

I  am  sorry,  in  a  work  of  universal  interest  to  Humani- 
ty, to  condescend  to  the  censure  of  parties ;  but  as  the 
source  of  happiness,  which  will  ultimately  inundate  all 
Jsature,  is  placed  In  this  island,  whatever  impedes  or 
augments  its  current,  becomes  an  object  of  magnitude 
and  importance.  And  this  reflection  leads  me  to  consi- 
der the  nature  of  that  source — 

THE  LIBERTY  OF  THE  PRESS. 

Had  I  the  talent  of  speech  of  all  the  orators  the 
world  ever  produced,  it  would  be  inadequate  to  give  form 
to  the  operation  of  thought,  while  it  contemplates  this 
hallowed  subject,  involving  the  happiness  and  well-being 
not  only  of  humanity,  but  of  all  animated  Nature. 

O  Britons !  could  I  inspire  you  with  my  sentiments 
,of  veneration  for  this  holy  fountain,  you  would  guard  it 
•with  the  affectionate  vigilance  of  a  protecting  parent  to 
Ibis  beloved  offspring. 


THE    LIBERTY    OF   THE    PRESS.  43 

Secure  the  defences  of  this;  Sanctum  Naturae,  and  the 
empire  of  liberty  will  be  :snfe,  though  frequent  excursions 
are  made  upon  the.  frontiers  by  its  despoiling  enemies- 
error,  superstition  and  despotism. 

Confine  its  fertilizing  waters,  that  it  may  not  devas- 
tate private  reputation,  and  unite  the  virtuous  to  league 
with  the  vicious  in  rebellion  against  its  sacred  power; 
but  let  all  men  in  office,  the  sovereign  alone  excepted, 
whose  minister  supplies  his  responsibility,  be  subject  to 
its  universal  empire.  Let  vice  see,  when  it  dares  sally 
forth  from  gaming  tables  and  spunging  houses,  that  pow- 
er can .  afford  no  protection  against  public  inquiry,  and 
that  if  it.  has  the  audacity  to.  receive  public  recompence, 
the  nation  will  demand  a  strict  scrutiny  of  the  merit  of 
its  votaries,  and  if  their  characters  will  not  stand  this 
test,  let  them  conceal  themselves  in  that  station  of  pri- 
vacy, where  the  press  has  no  jurisdiction;  but  which  in 
the'progress  of  human  reason  she  will  reclaim  as  the 
metropolitan  part  of  her  universal  empire,  which  the  pre- 
judices and  errors  of  mankind  induce  her  at  present  to 
contract. 

The  doctrine  of  libellism  has  been  hitherto  founded 
in  error,  and  truth  and  falsehood  have  been  confounded 
in  its  definition. 

Libels,  with  respect  to  private  persons,  whether  true 
ar  false,  in  the  present  unhappy  state  of  civilization,  are 
equally  Injurious  to  the  individual,  against  whom  they 
are  directed ;  because  as  unknown  or  uninteresting  to 
the  pubJlc,  the  charge  will  not  be  investigated,  and  the 
stigma  will  remain.  But  the  character  of  a  magistrate 
interests  I'lie  community,  and  the  same  press  that  crimi- 
nates will  furnish  him  with  equal  means  of  defence;  and 
the  public  tribunal  \vill  be  ot-jupied  in  the  trial,  and  ac- 
quit, or  condemn,  with  an  unprejudiced  verdict,  in  the  ex- 
amination of  those  opinions,  which  the  religious  duty  of 
citizen  calls  -upoa  -every  member  of  the  community  to 
give  of  public  measures,  In  which  his  own  safety  is  con- 
cerned; ami  of  public  men,  as  being  worthy  or  unworthy 
to  conduct  those  measures. 


44  THE   MORAL   STATE    OP   ENGLAND. 

If  this  discrimination  of  public  and  private  character 
is  not  attended  to  by  a  British  Jury,  the  foantain  of  uni- 
v  rs;il  liberty  and  happiness  will  be  dried  up  by  the  rub- 
•         ill,  t   power  and  personal   interest   have   been  lately, 
uiolmg  to  discharge  into  it  with  numberless  pro-e- 
•s   for  libels,   when   the   process   and   verdict  have 
;  the  friends  of  liberty,  and  given  such  encourage- 
i          .o  vice,  thai  Newgate  will  in  luture  furnish  its  share* 
(         .    (dates,  to  fill  the  sacred   magisterial   functions 
t          ./.<•.     '1  hat  epodi  will  not,  however,  begin  with  the^  , 
1      MI   i  he  present   sov<  reign,  [George  III.]   whose   char-3*1* :Z 
i      r  is  marked  by  thai  austerity,  probity   and   prudence,^ 
c-n.g  ni.ii  to  the    British    nation;  and   whose   reign   has  "^ 
}     n  rendered  happy,  i*y  studying  the  will  of  the  people, 
;        v'ureto  sacrificing  bis  own,  and  by  making  his  great-  s^  J 

t  i  j  i-rsoiial  ene.mv  hi>  bonfrttentiaJ  minister,  if  the  wis-  / 
i          -i  *        •     i  •    *. 

c'D;»)  oi  the  nation  V'-cjuireu  it.%"  jc 

Hie  jM'ess  has  a  most  powerful  influeme  over  society, 
being  the  means  of  universal   mentu!   intt-n  ourse  for  all 
in  ;i,iviii  i.      As  the  pebble   thrown  into  the  lake,  agitates  >J  ^ 
t  •,-.-   cen'.re  with  violence,  and  unrlul.ites  the  water  to  the     \^ 
i;:os(   di-tiint  shore;  so,  from  its  ti  rone  of  liberty  estab-    V 
J;s.,n!  in  this  island,  the  press  dsr.'cts  its  wonderful  mir- 
ror, r  fl  sling  from  the  sun  of  truth   the   !<r  ght   rays  of 
Wis  so  n,  and  dispels  the  dreadful  mists  of  error,  that  till 
t  .     moral   hemisphere   with  the  darkness  of  ignorance, 
in\'o,vin^  all  the  pestiferous  vapors   that    infect  and  de- 
stroy i;,j  moral  health  and  happiness  oi  mankind. 

h  is  this  dire  preponderance  of  passion  over  reason, 
1  i  i.iis  moment  idusis  in  .  (onionnds  in  august  j>er- 
&> .  %  •*  ..ml  splendid  ci.«iTjd<rrs  of  ability,  the  future 
1..';  >.  i»f  an  anticipating  and  r  fleeting  people.  There  is 
•M>  ntiitii  levity,  ti,o.:g!iut,ssness  and  dissipation  in  the 
•0,1 ...  si.-iian  heterogeidous  mixture  of  vice  and  virtue, 
vis  .i»,n  and  foliy  in  the  others,  contrasting  with  the  so- 
li.iify,  prudence  and  virtue  o!  the  diglisii  nation;  that 
•in  tit-  many  attempts  they  have  made  to  save  the  con- 
*titutiu»i — to  vindicate  the  violated  nghts  of  subjects — 


THE  TRUE  AXIOM  OF  GOVERNMENT.       45 

to  extinguish  the  torch  of  discord,  by  establishing  a  be- 
nevolent toleration  ; — the  sanctity  of  these  causes  seems 
t<»  have  been  contaminated  by  the  impurity  of  their  exot- 
ic characters ;  and  the  salvation  proffered  was  spurned 
by  a  suspicious  people.  O  wisdom!  teach  the  sovereign 
and  ministers  of  this  isle,  that  the  supreme  and  omnipo- 
tent power  is  the  WILL  of  the  PEOPLE,  that  the  minister 
must  be  their  confidential  friend,  and  that  their  confidence 
is  obtained  only  by  the  character  uniting  virtue  and  wis- 
dom. This  axiom  contains  all  the  doctrine  for  the  edu- 
cation of  kings ;  and  the  only  effort  of  wisdom  indis- 
pensably necessary  is  to  be  able  to  discover,  through 
the  false  lights  of  a  prostituted  parliamentary  majority, 
and  the  suborned  addresses  of  boroughs  and  corpora- 
tions, the  general  will  of  a  wise  and  virtuous  people, 
which  is  never  equivocal,  and  demands  but  a  small  de- 
gree of  penetration  to  discover.  The  prince  who  may 
have  weakness  and  obstinacy  enough  to  depend  upon  the 
shadow  of  forms,  and  the  blasted  doctrine  of  legal  right 
for  the  support  of  his  will,  in  opposition  to  that  of  the 
nation,  would  meet  the  fate  that  history  records  of  such 
attempts,  which  holds  out  as  the  moral  of  its  narative 

Kings  have  a  right  to  do  that  only,  which  is  right  to  be 
dane. 

The  present  progress  of  political  and  individual  cor- 
ruption is  so  great  and  rapid,  that  unless  ?ome  virtuous 
character  shall  rise  up  to  supplant  the  present,  leaders  ot 
an  unpopular  opposition,  I  predict  that  the  liberty  of  this 
country  will  contract  the  cause  of  decline  in  the  present 
century,  and  dissolve  in  the  early  part  of  the  next.  TU- 
implicit  confidence  of  the  people  in  the  private  virtue  of 
a  minister  who  has  not  the  courage  to  reform  the  deUx  is 
in  the  constitution,  and  the  influence  of  the  crown  ac- 
cumulating with  an  eastern  empire,  will  be  the  cause 
thereof,  and  a  vicious  and  unpopular  opposition  will  co- 
operate with  great  efficacy. 


40  THE    MOKAL    STATE    OF    ENGLAND. 

I  shall  now  take  a  view  of  the  moral  character  of 
these  islanders,  which  is  the  effect  of  their  powerful  and 
characteristic  faculty  of  mind — Reason.  This  produces 
violent  sensations  cf  sympathy  and  unbounded  benevo- 
lence;  and  such  a  hallowed  ami  universal  veneration  for 
TRUTH,  as  justly  gives  them,  notwithstanding  their  vices, 
individual  and  political,  the  first  rank  among  the  different 
species  of  mankind.  This  acoration  for  rectitude  and 
veracity  is  so  early  inculcated  into  them,  Unit  a  child 
seven  years  old  exposes  his  person  to  a  contest  of  blows, 
if  charged  with  the  injurious  crime  of  falsehood.  The 
tutor  or  parent  holds  up  truth  as  an  asylum  for  every 
kind  of  offence,  and  the  candid  confession  of  the.  fault  is 
ever  received  as  an  atonement  for  guilt  and  a  pledge  of 
pardon.  The  jealousy  of  this  honorable  character,  im- 
bibed at  so  early  an  age,  never  quits  him;  and  though  he 
may  forfeit  all  pretence  to  every  other  virtue,  he  is  ever 
ready  to  sacrifice  his  life  to  support  hi*  character  for  ve- 
racity. When  this  is  lost,  the  remorse  of  conscience 
bursts  into  paroxisms  of  despair;  makes  knaves  or 
garuesters  fight  for  honesty,  traitors  for  patriotism,  and 
liars  for  truth.  Upon  this  virtue  is  founded  all  the  mo- 
ral happiness,  commercial  opulence,  and  political  strength 
and  splendor  of  this  nation,  physically  weak,  and  at  the 
sarae  time  the  mo*t  powerful  upon  the  face  of  the  globe. 
That  this  is  the  source  of  domestic  and  individual  confi- 
dence, is  testified  by  its  internal  commerce,  in  which 
even  children  are  often  sufiioiiMit  agents  in  article*  of 
common  consumption  und  of  some  consequ-.  nr.e.  This 
individual  confidence,  its  rays  being  oolkvkd  into  a  fo- 
cus by  commercial  associations,  eoiomamfa  (he  com- 
merce of  the  globe.  It  also  ris-.:s  into  political  union, 
and  though  this  has  broken  the  link  by  which  it  o^iu  to 
be  connected  with  the  great  body  of  the  people,  it  still 
participates  of  that  virtue  by  virtual  •  osnmuniciUion,  and 
forms  such  a  coloss?.]  and  nr>ral  strength,  that  it  govcriss 
the  rest  of  the  world  in  the  same  manner  that  weak  men 
govern  powerful  beasts,  tiy  the  excellence  ami  superiority 
of  their  moral  force.  This  rectitude  pervading  all  ranks 


THE    OMNIPOtffctfeE    OF    TBETH.  47 

of  people,  ami  the  homage  they  pay  to  this  virtue,  pro- 
cure that  spirit  of  subordination  so  necessary,~!and  at 
the  same  time  so  peculiar  to  this  country  of  liberty. 
Hence  that  order  constituting  domestic  tranquillity,  which 
causes  the  servant  to  submit  to  the  will  of  a  respected 
master;  and  the  resignation  of  millions  to  the  decrees  of 
a  venerable  senate  and  virtuous  sovereign.  Hence  that 
military  discipline,  which,  though  it  equals  not  the  Ger- 
man parade  tactics ;  yet  in  important  service  and  the 
moment  of  battle,  unites  the  moral  force  of  thousand*  by 
their  respect  and  confidence  in  the  character  of  the 
commanders,  and  bears  down  like  a  torrent  upon  the 
pearl-strung  rank  of  paraded  foes,  whose  union  being 
purely  tactical,  has  no  strength  to  oppose  the  colossal 
force  of  moral  union. 

Among  the  various  errors  that  Tiave  been  regarded 
by  prejudice,  as  too  sanctified  for  investigation,  and- 
shut  up  from  profane  inquiry,  the  form  of  government, 
or  mode  of  civil  institution,  by  which  mankind  are  held 
together  in  society,  is  the  most  obstinate  as  well  as  the 
most  important. 

At  the  degree  of  approximation,  mankind  are  arrived 
in  the  progress  of  the  mind  towards  universal  truth, 
England  stands  alone,  and  has  left  all  other  nations  at 
an  infinite  distance.  The  mind,  in  this  island,  with  it? 
capacity  of  thought,  has  taken  a  view  of-  all  the  moral 
relations  of  Nature,  and  has  formed  a  government  per- 
fect, as  to  the  relative  considerations  of  tTlfe,  place  and 
circumstances;  and  though  it  opposes  all  dangerous  and 
sudden  innovations  which  destroy,  it  encourages  ail  grad- 
ual changes  which  tend  to  improve  ;  like  a  parent,  who 
proportions  liberty  to  the  degree  of  wisdom  his  children 
acquire;  that  when  they  become  of  age,  they  may  not 
burst  the  rigid  chains  of  parental  restraint,  and  like  an 
African  slave  intoxicated  with  liberty,  use  it  to  their 
own  destruction. 

"/Education  is  established  to  inculcate  morality,  and  the 
liberty  of  the  press  to  disseminate  wisdom,  and  from 
these  causes  is  produced  a  spirit  of  administration  that 

G^  v* 

'stS&tsijc, 


48  THE    MORAL    STATE    OF   ENGLAND. 

supersedes  all  form,  however  it  may  be  aided  by  it ;  and 
procures  a  happiness  to  its  subjects,  envied  by  all  na- 
tion*, who  mistake  for  the  effect  of  form  that  of  admin- 
istration; and  its  power  is  admired,  while  they  overlook 
the  confidence  which  morality  has  placed  as  the  great 
basis  of  all  civil  institutions. 

In  this  confidence  alone,  administration  must  always 
participate;  for  in  all  subjects  of  speculative  policy, 
where  individuals  find  no  cause  of  decision  in  the  sug- 
gestions of  their  own  conceptions,  they  must  appeal  to 
an  arbiter,  which  is  always  the  integrity  of  the  minis- 
ter; for  no  man  cedes  his  judgment  to  the  abilities  of 
another  whose  integrity  is  suspicious;  and  hence  arises 
the  necessity  of  virtue  in  the  character  of  a  prime  min- 
ister. And  whenever  the  nation  is  duped  by  an  inde- 
pendent logomachy,  mistaken  for  abilities,  or  shall  place 
a  suspicious  character  at  the  helm  of  state;  from  that 
moment  the  British  Empire  will  fall  into  convulsions, 
and  a  state  of  political  decline  will  ensue.  But  should 
this  event  be  retarded  only  fifty  years  more,  the  liberty 
of  the  press  will  have  so  much  augmented  the  wisdom 
and  virtue  of  the  people,  that  being  of  age,  they  will 
claim  their  indefeasible  arid  hereditary  right  of  empire^ 
and  free  themselves  from  the  bondage  of  ignorant  and 
ambitious  tutors,  who  were  necessary  to  restrain  them 
in  a  state  of  minority,  when  liberty  would  have  proved 
licentiousnei^to  conduct  them  to  misery  and  ruin. 

This  inestimable  virtue,  [Truth,]  the  source  of  all 
others,  produces  that  wonderful  and  impartial  adminis- 
tration of  justice,  the  admiration  of  the  whole  world ;  it 
is  this  which  resists  the  gangrene  of  corruption,  with 
which  the  political  body  is  infected,  holds  the  flaming 
sword  of  vengeanir,  whose  effulgent  rays  appal  aspiring 
faction  and  relentless  tyranny,  and  encourages  patriots 
in  the  cause  of  integrity  and  liberty.  This  must  be  a 
foundation  to  every  political  structure.  The  history  of 
past,  and  the  view  of  present  nations,  prove  that  the 
sceptre  of  despotism,  swayed  by  the  hand  of  truth,  is 
preferable  to  that  of  liberty  dispensed  with  the  hand  of 


THE    OMNIPOTENCE    OF    TRUTH.  49 

corruption,  and  verifies  the  sentiment  of  Pope,  that  the 
happiness  of  nations  does  not  depend  on  tl)e  form  of 
government,  but  on  the  integrity  of  its  administration, 
which  can  never  be  found,  but  among  the  people  where 
truth  is  cultivated  as  the  first  of  all  virtues. 

That  constitutional  form  has  an  effect  upon  the  men- 
tal faculties  of  the  members  of  the  community,  cannot 
be  doubted,  because  it  suppresses  or  exercises  them  in 
proportion  as  they  have  a  greater  or  less  share  in  the 
government,  and  so  far  form  is  important,  because  it 
promotes  wisdom,  the  only  means  to  discover  and  culti- 
vate truth;  but  divest  form  of  this  important,  though 
often  distant  consequence,  and  it  becomes  an  ignis  fatuus 
which  has  led  the  world  for  many  ages  to  the  precipice 
of  error.  This  observation  will  be  illustrated  and  pro- 
ved by  taking  a  comparative  view  of  the  government  of 
England,  with  any  the  most  perfect  democracy  in  Swit- 
zerland. Though  in  the  latter  the  pyramid  of  govern- 
ment stands,  as  all  good  governments  should  stand,  upon 
its  base;  and  in  the  former  the  pyramid  is  truncated  and 
deformed,  and  the  base  with  the  side  is  as  one  to  six ; 
yet  that  of  England,  though  inferior  in  form,  is  superior 
in  administration,  as  in  the  former  justice  is  as  aban- 
doned as  a  prostitute,  and  in  the  latter  chaste  as  a  ves- 
tal virgin ;  and  this  can  only  proceed  from  the  less  or 
greater  cultivation  of  truth,  and  force  of  wisdom  to  dis- 
cover it.  This  virtue,  truth,  is  as  much  the  peculiar  and 
appropriated  character  of  this  nation  as  sensibility,  and 
proceeds  from  its  extraordinary  modes  of 
EDUCATION. 

I  shall  consider  this  Education  under  two  heads,  scho- 
lastic and  domestic,  the  first  of  which  I  shall  subdivide 
into  public  and  private. 

Public  scholastic  education  takes  muter  its  tuition  the 
sons  of  the  rich,  and  aristocratic  part  of  the  nation > 
here  they  are  placed  at  an  age  when  the  passions  are  be- 
ginning to  operate,  and  removed  from  the  more  immedi- 
ate control  of  private  tutors  or  theiy  parents ;  they  are 
assembled  here  as  in  a  state  of  Nature,  Fubjesi  only  to 

5 


50  THE    MORAL    STATE    OP   ENGLAND. 

relaxed  school  laws,  containing  boundaries  of  space  to 
rove  in,  limited  periods  to  read  books,  to  eat,  drink, 
sleep  and  rise.  Their  persons  and  property  are  at  the 
mercy  of  tyrant  school-fellows,  and  every  one  indemni- 
fies himself  by  retaliation  on  the  weakest.  They  have 
no  cotffrnunication  with  men,  and  must  therefore  receive 
counsd,  and  place  a  confidence  in  those  who  act  under 
the  impulses  of  similar  passions  and  weaknesses.  They 
have  no  knowledge  of  any  moral  laws,  and  no  fears  but 
what  arise  fro  n  the  breach  of  the  puerile  code  of  school 
laws,  which  sel.lom  goes  unpunished,  while  the  highest 
ounces  against  the  law  of  morality  are  taken  no  notice 
of';  and  the  audacious  boy  who  has  no  fear  of  personal 
combat,  or  the  puerile  and  shameful  punishment  of  expo- 
sing his  posteriors  to  be  flogged  by  a  birchen  rod,  may 
revel  in  every  species  of  tyranny,  injustice  and  cruelty. 
Tiie  mind  of  youth  is  left  as  uncultivated  as  the  heart; 
a  few  grammar  rules  and  compositions  in  the  ancient 
and  dead  languages  occupy  their  mouths  and  their  time, 
and  produce  the  learning  of  the  parrot,  and  as  improved 
as  that  animal  they  proceed  to  the  university.  Being 
now  arrived  at  the  age  of  adolescence,  and  entering  into 
the  society  of  men  who  are  constantly  displaying  the 
contents  of  an  extensive  memory,  they  begin  to  feel  the 
vacancy  of  their  own,  and  proceed  to  burden  it  with  all 
the  errors  of  unprofitable  philology.  They  know  that 
the  improvement  of  the  heart  may  keep  pace  with  that 
of  the  understanding;  throw  ofif  the  school  vices  of  tyr- 
anny, injustice  and  robbery,  being  exposed  to  the  dan- 
gers of  punishment  (like,  any  other  citizen)  in  the  breach 
of  the  civil  laws ;  they  substitute  the  more  manly  vices 
of  gaming,  whoring  and  drinking;  and  with  the  pedantic 
and  morose  manners  of  a  collegian,  they  proceed  to  the 
last  stage  of  education — travelling  abroad. 

Accompanied  by  their  pedagogues  as  guides,  they  en- 
ter into  foreign  regions,  and  memory,  respiring  from  the 
fatigue  of  ancient  history  and  languages,  returns  to  as 
futile  an  occupation ;  and  crams  itself  with  ecclesiasti- 
cal, civil,  political  and  domestic  forms,  ceremonies  and 


THE  EFFECTS  AND  DEFECTS  OF  EDUCATION.     51 

institutions,  and  geographical  and  physical  observations. 
Judgment,  oppressed  with  its  weight,  has  just  strength 
enough  to  make  relative  conclusions,  and  to  measure 
every  thing  by  a  local  standard  formed  by  education  and 
habit;  but  has  not  energy  enough  to  push  back  the 
bounds  of  truth  beyond  the  circumscribed  limits  of  its 
^own  native  prejudices;  and  while  the  understanding  is 
"thus  futilely  occupied,  the  heart  is  surprised  by  pleasures 
called  by  the  name  of  gallantry  in  all  foreign  countries; 
in  England  only,  moral  turpitude  and  depravity  of  princi- 
ples; but  as  education  has  taught  them  to  place  virtue 
in  abstinence  from  pleasures,  they  feel  a  remorse  of  con- 
science in  the  enjoyment  of  moral  liberty ;  but  Nature 
triumphs,  and  forces  them  to  be  happy.  Conscience  by 
the  frequent  friction  of  its  irritability  gains  callosity, 
and  leaves  no  sensibility  when  real  virtue,  or  probity 
and  sympathy  are  assaulted  by  the  temptation  of  self-in- 
terest. The  English  traveller  constantly  sacrifices  the 
national  character  of  stubborn  rectitude,  in  proportion  as 
he  assumes  the  worldly  polish  or  liberality  which  he  tra- 
vels to  acquire. 

From  what  cause  the  great  energy  of  thought  or  ex- 
tent of  the  mental  faculties  which  characterizes  this  na- 
tion arises,  it  is  difficult  to  say,  but  education  seems  to 
have  much  influence.  I  have  observed  a  great  contrarie- 
ty of  conduct  between  England  and  other  nations  in 
this  respect. 

Upon  the  Continent,  children  associate  more  with 
men,  and  adopt  their  concerns  at  a  very  early  age.  As 
these  affect  only  the  memory,  the  judgment  of  children 
being  inadequate  to  operate  upon  them,  the  former  is  cul- 
tivated while  the  latter  is  neglected.  These  concerns 
convey  a  knowledge  of  all  the  chicane  and  interested 
conduct  of  life,  corrupt  the  heart;  and  judgment  rinding 
no  exercise,  is  overwhelmed  and  lost  in  the  powers  of 
the  memory,  and  this  latter  instead  of  the  former,  be- 
comes the  guide  of  the  adult  through  life. 

In  England  men  have  as  much  aversion  to  associate 
with  children  as  they  with  men ;  this  leaves  them  to 


52  THE   MORAL   STATE   OF   ENGLAND. 

their  own  society,  where  plays,  toys  and  friendship,  offer 
matter  adequate  to  the  exercise  of  infantine  judgment ; 
and  memory  throws  off  the  frothy  nothing  contained  in 
books,  and  the  narative  of  worldly  transactions,  while  the 
body  is  directed  by  the  mind  to  gymnastic  exercises, 
which  improve  the  physical  constitution.  Probity  or 
love  of  truth  is  the  only  moral,  which  parents  or  peda- 
gogues have  time  or  inclination  to  inculcate ;  though 
sympathy  should  precede  it;  this,  however,  Nature  takes 
charge  of,  and  never  fails  to  inspire  it  into  a  vigorous 
mind  and  body.  Though  its  use  may  be  perverted  by 
bad  instruction  and  bad  example,  yet  it  gives  an  unpar- 
alleled humanity  to  the  English  character  over  all  the 
globe. 

From  this  mode  of  education,  the  English  mind  ac- 
quires that  peculiar  habit  of  thought  or  intellectual  ex- 
cellence, which,  in  proportion  as  education  improves,  or 
wisdom  appears,  will  become  a  glorious  luminary  to 
spread,  by  means  of  the  liberty  of  the  press,  over  all  the 
globe,  and  bring  man  to  a  knowledge  of  himself — to  In- 
tellectual Existence,  and  an  Enlightened  state  of  Nature. 
And  such  is  the  course  of  an  education  wrhich  forms 
man  to  elevate  him  into  the  office  of  senator,  and  gives 
him  qualities  which  are  to  promote  and  secure  the  hap- 
piness of  his  fellow-citizens.  To  this  system  of  educa- 
tion I  attribute  the  good  and  evil  preponderating  in  the 
remarkable  character  of  the  English  nation.  In  the  age 
before  puberty,  the  mind  unattended  to  by  parents  or 
pedagogues,  who  will  not  condescend,  as  in  other  coun- 
tries, to  associate  with  children,  is  left  to  occupy  its  en- 
ergy by  being  abandoned  to  the  society  of  children ;  and 
it  is  here  that  judgment  and  invention  are  called  into  ex- 
ercise, to  make  friendships,  to  acquire  the  property  of 
toys,  to  defend  their  persons  by  forming  alliances,  by 
the  exercise  of  personal  strength  or  cunning;  and  de- 
mands for  these  purposes  all  the  efforts  and  ingenuity 
requisite  to  a  man  living  on  the  great  stage  of  the  world. 
The  passions  accustomed  to  early  impressions  from  liv- 
ing in  a  state  of  Nature,  grow  tremblingly  alive,  and 


THE   MELIORATION    OP    SUPERSTITION.  53 

form  an  early  habit  and  temperament  of  the  most  ex- 
treme aiiJ  characteristic  sensibility.  By  a  different  mode 
of  education,  as  in  foreign  countries,  children  being  as- 
sociated to  their  parents,  have  their  memories  burdened 
with  family  duties  and  tales,  which  make  a  deeper  im- 
pression on  the  mind,  than  the  unintelligible  jargon  of 
books  and  pedagogues,  and  suppress  or  blunt  the  exer- 
cise of  the  judgment.  The  sensibility  of  the  heart  is 
free  from  all  impressions,  as  the  association  and  protec- 
tion of  the  parents  provide  him  with  every  thing  he  may 
want,  and  with  menaces,  fears  and  punishment,  deprive 
him  of  every  sentiment  but  submission,  which  must  de- 
stroy the  springs  and  energy  of  the  passions,  the  source 
of  sympathy.  And  this  would  be  a  proper  mode  of  edu- 
cation, if  society  was  happily  and  wisely  constituted ; 
but  being  the  reverse,  sympathy  is  destroyed  by  the  cru- 
el conduct  of  tyranny  in  parents  in  the  exercise  of  do- 
mestic government,  as  probity  and  judgment  are  by  the 
tales  of  civil  treachery  and  relations  of  knavish  transac- 
tions, which  overwhelm  the  memory,  and  confound  the 
superior  faculties  of  the  mind,  corrupt  the  ingenuous  and 
sympathetic  dispositions  of  the  tender  heart. 

In  the  subject  of  education,  I  shall  consider  the  church 
and  the  theatre  as  mediate  causes. 

RELIGION  or  priestcraft  will  probably  maintain  its 
ground  longer  in  England  than  in  any  other  country, 
notwithstanding  the  progress  of  its  great  eneni},  wisdom. 
In  this  country  the  priests,  like  the  conductors  of  a  pup- 
pet-show, use  wires  so  fine  or  metaphysical,  reasons  , so 
subtle,  that  gross  understandings  do  not  perceive  them, 
and  know  not  what  passes  behind  the  scenes  :  whereas 
in  most  other  countries,  the  wires  that  move  the  puppeU 
to  play  the  farce  of  religion,  are  so  gross  or  ceremoni- 
ous, so  absurd  and  futile,  that  the  weakest  mii|ds  de- 
tect the  fraud,  and  penetrate  behind  the  scenes,  Vvhere 
the  whole  machinery  is  discovered.  This  must  happta 
upon  the  Continent  in  the  course  of  a  very  few  years, 
which  the  progress  of  knowledge  will  alone  effect,  with- 
out the  aid  of  wisdom,  whose  strongest  powers  will  be 


54  THE   MORAL   STATE    OF  ENGLAND. 

required  to  dissipate  the  illusion  of  intellectual  idolatry, 
established  on  metaphysical  reason  ;  or,  the  most  dan- 
gerous of  all  error,  false  knowledge,  arising  from  the 
technical  powers  of  the  mind,  operating  without  the  aid 
of  judgment,  as  is  the  case  in  England. 

Religion  in  this  island  being  divested  of  the  grosser  cer- 
emonies, or  proofs  of  its  absurdity,  leaves  the  mind  few- 
er substitutes  for  real  virtue,  probity  and  sympathy;  and 
the  minds  of  its  ministers  being  strengthened  and  enlight- 
ened by  the  education  above  treated  of,  they  preach  up 
the  exercise  of  that  virtue  more  with  the  noble  ardor  of 
citizens,  than  the  furious  and  fanatic  bigotry  of  priests. 

The  THEATRE  of  this  country  is  conducted  in  a  man- 
ner disgraceful  to  an  enlightened  and  civilized  people. 
The  dramatic  representations  of  tragedy  and  comedy 
convey  a  poisonous  with  a  wholesome  moral.  The  for- 
mer holds  up  gigantic  tyranny  and  splendid  vice,  revolv- 
ing through  the  hemisphere  of  military  and  imperial  glo- 
ry, and  setting  in  a  radiant  horizon  by  a  pompous  death. 
The  spectator  is  made  a  witness  of  the  most  bloody 
deeds  of  cruelty  and  villainy,  and  the  heart  accustomed 
to  the  stronger  vibrations  of  sensibility,  feels  no  shock 
from  the  feeble  impressions  of  the  common  evils  of  life, 
and  receives  no  advantage  that  can  form  any  counterpoise 
to  this  evil,  in  contemplating  the  disappointment  of  am- 
bition and  treachery. 

In  the  neglected  and  despised  state  of  the  theological 
theatre,  the  dramatic  theatre  would  be  a  necessary  and 
excellent  substitute,  if  its  conduct  had  that  attention  be- 
stowed upon  it,  which  it  merits.  How  many  church  au- 
ditors whom  sleep  has  protected  from  the  absurdities 
and  impieties  against  the  religion  of  Nature,  -delivered 
from  the  pulpit,  have  found  no  escape  from  the  barbari- 
ties and  vices  of  scenic  representations,  that  seduce  the 
passions,  and  enliven  the  temperament  to  receive  the 
most  lasting  impressions. 

This  important  source  of  instruction  and.  morality 
should  be  guarded  with  the  utmost  vigilance.  Colleges 
should  be  established  for  actors  and  dramatic  writers, 


THE  DEGRADATION  OF  THE  DRAMA.        55 

and  subjects  should  be  selected  in  possession  of  all  the 
perfections  of  human  nature,  which  that  profession  de- 
mands. Authors  should  be  taught  the  modes  of  human 
passions,  the  nature  of  virtue,  and  the  means  of  exciting 
the  minds  to  its  practice,  by  the  forcible  impulse  of  nat- 
ural example,  displayed  on  the  stage  as  a  true  mirror  of 
life. 

The  dramatic  art  should  also  form  a  part  of  universal 
education,  that  the  public  might  become  its  just  and  only 
arbiters ;  and  then,  being  purged  by  their  censure  from 
the  licentious  scenes  that  scandalize  sympathy  and  pro- 
bity, virtue,  divested  of  all  sophistical  relations  and  theo- 
logical impieties,  would  appear  in  all  her  charms,  and 
manifest  herself  as  wise  self-love;  and  mounting  this 
immoveable  throne,  would  subjugate  all  doubts,  and  be 
elevated  above  the  reach  of  the  most  ingenious  sophistry 
that  could  inspire  scepticism,  or  seduce  the  mind  from 
her  beneficent  empire. 

Comedy  claims  the  greater  part  of  reproach,  and  in- 
stead of  correcting,  is  become  the  school  of  prejudice, 
vice  and  buffoonery ;  and  the  representation  of  a  piece 
called  the  Beggars7  Opera  is  alone  [?]  sufficient  to  dis- 
grace the  stage,  and  hold  it  up  to  the  execration  and  in- 
dignation of  the  whole  world.  In  this,  the  most  danger- 
ous vices,  which  in  other  countries  are  buried  in  oblivion 
with  their  authors,  are  here  resuscitated  and  metamor- 
phosed into  acts  6f  heroism,  decorated  with  all  the  inci- 
dents of  enterprise  and  martial  glory,  accompanied  with 
scenes  of  the  most  seducing  gayety  and  pleasure :  and 
the  unexampled  number  of  malefactors  which  this  indus- 
trious and  enlightened  country  produces,  would  be  par- 
adoxical, unless  solved  and  accounted  for  by  the  sedu- 
cing scenes  of  a  debauched  stage  ;  which  fact,  if  its  vic- 
tims had  not  frequently  declared  in  their  dying  confes- 
sions, wisdom  and  common  sense  would  discover.  The 
low  ribaldry  and  vulgar  buffoonery  of  farces  and  panto- 
mimes, displayed  not  in  wit  or  intrigue,  but  in  kicking, 
cuffing,  falling,  and  every  mode  of  personal  assault  and 
insult,  infects  the  morals  of  the  people,  and  is  the  cause 


56  THE   MORAL  STATE   OF  ENGLAND. 

of  those  pugilistic  contests  that  disgrace  the  streets  of 
our  metropolis.  The  childish  introduction  of  ghosts, 
witches  and  hob-goblins,  recalls  weak  minds  back  to  the 
remembrance  of  follies  and  fears,  which  time  would 
obliterate,  if  theatrical  managers  had  wisdom  enough  to 
copy  the  improvement  of  other  nations,  who  must  con- 
tent a  refined  people  with  the  combination  of  the  libe 
ral  arts  of  painting,  dancing  and  music,  and  the  more 
dignified,  though  equally  absurd  mythology  of  ancient 
times. 

Having  taken  a  view  of  the  intellectual  faculties,  affec- 
tions and  passions  of  the  English  people,  and  the  educa- 
tion that  may  excite  or  modify  them,  I  shall  proceed  to 
observe  them,  in  their  political  and  social  conventions. 

The  science  of  GOVERNMENT  is  the  most  important 
and  intricate  of  all  sciences,  and  demands  a  capacity  of 
mind  to  comprehend  and  consider  a  subject  sim.ultane- 
ously  in  all  its  parts  and  relations :  and  this  power  is 
what  constitutes  wisdom. 

It  is  evident  to  a  mind  in  possession  of  this  faculty, 
that  government,  to  be  perfect,  should  conform  to  the 
moral  powers  and  habitudes  of  its  subject ;  that  these 
are  related  to  many  circumstances  of  situation,  custom, 
and  policy  of  neighbors.  Nobody  would  conceive  it  po«- 
sible  to  establish  an  absolute  democracy,  the  most  per- 
fect form  of  social  union,  in  the  island  of  Jamaica,  with- 
out changing  the  temper  of  its  inhabitants,  by  a  total  re- 
form in  the  institutions  of  society. 

The  principles  of  the  aggregate  body  being  heteroge- 
neou« ;  three-fourths  placing  happiness  in  liberty  and  re- 
pose, and  one-fourth  in  slavery  and  activity,  it  is  plain 
there  can  be  no  point  of  union  or  concentration,  and  that 
force  alone  can  hold  together  such  a  herd  of  men  ;  for  I 
cannot  call  it  a  community.  This  exemplar  will  serve 
for  all  nations  in  proportion  as  they  possess  union  ot 
sentiment  in  the  only  true  centre,  wisdom  or  virtue ;  for 
they  ore  synonimous. 

Tbere  is  no-  nation  in  the  world  whose  inhabitants 


LIBERTY   REGULATED   BY    CIRCUMSTANCES.  5'f  • 

possess  generally,  or  in  the  gross,  wisdom ;  and  there- 
fore force  of  government  is  employed  to  substitute  an 
artificial  for  the  natural  point  of  union,  and  it  relaxes  or 
contracts  its  energy,  according  as  virtue  has  more  or  less 
influence.  If  the  volition  of  man  was  directed  by  the 
unerring  guide,  wisdom,  all  kinds  of  government  would 
become  inimical  and  vicious  coercion.  While  error,  in- 
terest and  superstition  pervert  the  human  faculties,  it  is 
necessary  that  the  collective  judgment  of  many  individu- 
als should  establish  a  system  of  coercion  or  government, 
to  prevent  ignorance  in  its  rage  from  destroying  the  whole 
race  of  humanity. 

Government  must  also  be  considered  as  to  local  situa- 
tion, and  the  policy  of  its  neighbors.  If  these  are  ig- 
norant, and  consequently  wicked,  their  properties  *nd  lives 
will  be  in  danger ;  coercion  must  then  augment  its  pow- 
ers, in  order  to  drag  the  selfish  citizen  from  that  avari- 
cious ignorance,  which  makes  him  refuse  pecuniary  aid 
to  public  exigencies,  and  by  giving  up  a  small  part  of  his 
property  to  furnish  an  armament  of  his  countrymen,  pre- 
vent the  whole  from  being  plundered  by  an  enemy. 
Many  others  not  prompted  by  sordid  avarice,  hut  influ- 
enced by  their  affections  as  parents  or  children,  have  not 
wisdom  to  intrench  on  their  comforts,  in  order  to  pro- 
cure them  greater  in  public  safety. 

The  nations  agitated  by  uncommon  industry  acquire 
superior  strength  and  riches,  and  would  sooner  conquer 
their  neighbors,  if  a  spirit  of  emulation  or  equality  of 
industry  did  not  take  place.  This  industry  is  enforced 
by  the  institutions  of  society,  which  coercion  executes, 
and  by  the  accumulated  property  of  the  great,  forces  the 
poor,  or  the  great  body  of  the  people,  .to  a  state  of  ex- 
treme necessity,  which  compels  Nature,  ever  seeking  re- 
pose, to  violent  and  destructive  labor:  but  if  the  viola- 
tion was  uncontrolled  by  a  participation  of  authority,  as 
in  a  democratical  government,  labor  and  property  would 
be  soon  equalized,  if  political  wars  were  frequent,  and 
the  nations  populous  and  extensive. 

Government  cannot  be  regulated  by  abstract  princi- 


58  THE   MORAL   STATE   OF   ENGLAND. 

pies  of  liberty  and  truth,  but  is  imperiously  subjugated 
to  sacrifice  their  plenitude,  and  to  reduce  them  to  the 
proportion  which  national  wisdom  has  arrived  at.  to  es- 
tablish domestic — and  that  which  universal  wisdom  is 
arrived  at,  to  establish  political  institutions ;  and  the  im- 
portant point,  which  great  intellectual  faculties  only  can 
discover,  is  that,  where  speculation  and  practice  unite. 

The  English  nation,  by  the  powerful  operation  of  the 
collective  force  of  thought,  have  seized  this  glorious 
point  both  in  politics  and  morality,  which  has  elevated 
it  to  become  the  envy  and  admiration  of  all  the  nations 
of  the  globe.  O  that  this  inestimable  genius  of  thought- 
fulness  may  every  day  acquire  increase !  Speculative 
truth  will  then  be  no  longer  dangerous,  but  serve  as  ef- 
fulgent beacons  of  light,  to  bring  the  tempest-tost  vessel 
of  Humanity,  with  wisdom  at  the  helm,  and  contempla- 
tion casting  the  lead  at  the  prow,  into  the  harbor  of  In- 
tellectual Existence,  and  an  Enlightened  State  of  Nature. 

The  policy  of  this  country  is  founded  upon  an  exten- 
sive basis  of  aristocracy,, consisting  of  the  tenth  part  of 
its  population.  This  power  is  organized  by  means  of 
three  estates.  The  first  is  the  King,  wrho  having  assum- 
ed a  superiority  by  the  right  of  conquest,  temporized 
with  the  independent  disposition  of  his  subjects,  and  go- 
verned them  by  forming  a  partial  assembly  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  to  represent  the  people,  and  an  hereditary 
and  permanent  council  of  the  House  of  Lords,yMo  rep- 
resent the  nobles.  By  this  coJlusive  participation  of 
authority  with  the  nation,  men  of  power  and  property 
are  satisfied;  and  the  people,  being  left  in  possession  of 
the  power  of  the  law,  and  the  administration  of  justice, 
preserve  the  majesty  and  sovereignty  of  the  nation,  on 
this  insurmountable  bulwark,  from  tyranny  and  despo- 
tism. 

Power  being  thus  divided,  the  public  offices  and  emol- 
uments of  every  sort  being  monopolized  by  one  tenth  ot 
the  people,  this  creates  an  interest  independent  on  the 
public  good,  and  is  the  cause  of  the  corruption,  factions 
and  intestine  broils,  which  disgrace  in  a  peculiar  manner 

: 


THE   BASENESS    OF   THE    ARISTOCRACY.  59 

this  nation,  and  are  carried  to  such  extremes,  as  to  insult 
civilization  itself.  Boroughs  are  put  up  to  auction  like 
bales  of  goods ;  treacherous  representatives  are  as  pub- 
licly bought,  as  faithful  ones  are  arbitrarily  punished ; 
and  the  political  liberties  of  the  nation  are  endangered 
or  bartered  for  the  spoils  of  power  by  an  ambitious  sove- 
reign. 

Add  to  this  mass  of  constitutional  evil  the  embarrass- 
ment and  corruption  which  the  administration  of  policy 
acquires  from  the  union  with  independent  kingdoms,  and 
the  domain  of  conquests  in  the  East  and  West ;  I  know 
not  whether  we  ought  to  feel  more  alarm  or  admiration, 
when  we  approach  under  the  body  to  view  this  hetero- 
genious  and  nicely-poised  colossal  fabric. 

Was  it  the  trembling  hand  of  form,  that  alone  upheld 
this  enormous  weight,  we  should  recoil  from  it  with 
dread ;  but  I  see  this  Colossus  fixed  firmly  to  its  base, 
by  the  cement  of  private  and  public  virtue,  which  ena- 
bles it  to  resist  such  violent  concussions  of  audacious 
and  impious  vice,  as  would  overturn  any  other  empire 
upon  the  face  of  the  earth. 

This  virtue  is  the  effect  of  social  convention,  whose 
tacit  and  implied  compacts,  formed  by  morals,  customs, 
and  manners,  are  most  religiously  and  sacredly  obeyecf; 
and  though  they  are  in  most  cases  repugnant  to  the  laws 
of  Nature ;  yet,  as  the  breach  of  them  is  assimilated  to 
the  breach  of  Nature's  compendious,  but  comprehensive 
code — PROBITY  and  SYMPATHY  ;  the  mind,  reflective  and 
anticipative,  pays  an  universal  obedience,  and  becomes 
habituated  to  the  order  so  necessary  to  concentrate  the 
force  of  individuals,  and  forms  that  wonderful  confidence 
and  unity,  which  elevates  the  nation  of  England  to  a  po- 
litical and  civil  pre-eminence  which  astonishes  mankind. 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  take  a  view  of  the  life  of  man, 
conducted  by  the  social  conventions  in  this  island,  and 
discover  what  degree  of  happiness  or  well-being  he  there- 
by acquires.  We  have  allowed  him  the  most  operative 
intellect  and  the  most  sympathetic  or  virtuous  heart; 
but  these  operate  in  the  same  dark  hemisphere  of  pre- 


60  THE    MORAL    STATE    OF   ENGLAND. 

judice  common  to  all  mankind.  He  has  preferred  politi- 
cal greatness  and  wealth,  to  moral  liberty  and  happiness, 
and  furnishes  the  world  with  an  instructive  example  of 
their  incompatibility.  The  nature  of  man  is  constantly 
tending  to  liberty  and  repose,  and  would  revolve  tranquil- 
ly, like  the  sun  round  its  own  axis  :  but  social  institu- 
tions, like  the  physical  laws  of  attraction  in  nature, 
force  his  planet  into  the  more  extensive  and  agitated 
revolution  of  a  political  orbit.  This  attraction  may  be 
remarked  in  the  severity  of  domestic  government  by  pa- 
rents, the  rigid  observance  of  civil  compacts  exacted  by 
the  laws,  and  the  sacrifice  of  private  interest  by  policy, 
to  the  public  good.  The  individual  is  thus  shackled  and 
enslaved,  to  form  a  powerful  collective  mass  called  a  na- 
tion, which  may  become  the  lordly  oppressor  of  all  na- 
tions upon  the  face  of  the  globe. 

The  force  of  multiplied  civil  restraints,  laid  in  a  most 
extraordinary  manner  upon  the  inhabitants  of  this  island, 
has  called  in  private  combat  to  its  aid,  as  if  afraid  that 
the  wonderful  energy  of  Nature  in  the  temperaments  of 
the  people,  would  overturn  the  colossal  pyrnmid  of  go- 
vernment, though  placed  on  its  base.  This  dreadful 
personal  legitimated  combat,  while  it  supports  the  ma- 
chine of  policy,  destroys  the  power  of  truth  and  Nature, 
and  like  a  Cerberus  of  hell,  it  is  made  the  guardian  of 
individual  rectitude  and  virtue,  and  must  be  so  while 
the  iniquitous  acts  of  domestic  and  foreign  policy  resem- 
ble so  well  the  [fabled]  infernal  regions. 

Hence  arises  that  taciturnal  gloom  which  haunts  so- 
ciety, and  in  the  form  of  a  naked  axe  in  the  hand  of  each 
guest,  makes  him  the  spectre  of  an  executioner,  to  ex- 
tinguish joy  in  benevolent  and  convivial  hearts.  Hence 
the  patient,  though  painful  content  of  the  wise,  fur  the 
insults  of  vice  and  folly  in  our  streets.  Hence  the  in- 
sults inflicted  upon  the  audience  at  the  theatre,  when 
their  pleasures  are  interrupted,  and  the  unprotected  fe- 
males alarmed  by  the  drunken  and  beastly  riot  of  disso- 
lute and  abandoned  bullies,  who  have  too  much  folly  to 
have  any  fear.  Hence  those  daring  assaults  of  bands  of 


THE   PROSTITUTION    OF    THE   PERIODICALS.  61 

pick-pockets,  who,  being  resisted  or  detected  in  their 
attempts  to  plunder,  beat  their  victim  to  the  point  of 
death,  and  by  calling  the  horrid  assassination  by  the 
term  "boxing,"  society  can  only  weep  over,  but  not 
avenge  the  death  of  a  virtuous  and  unfortunate  member. 

Alas  !  in  what  language  to  paint  and  deplore  the  des- 
tiny of  man,  while  we  view  him  in  this  island  enjoying 
in  a  most  partial  manner  the  best  gifts  of  Nature  ;  a 
happy  climate,  fertile  soil,  secure  position,  superior  un- 
ders^anding  and  sympathetic  heart ;  and  yet  all  these  ad- 
vantages are  abused  and  perverted,  and  error,  the  great 
enemy  of  humanity,  seduces  him  to  prefer  political  pow 
er  to  private  liberty,  and  national  wealth  to  personal  hap 
piness ;  and  the  most  morally  enslaved  individuals  are 
proud  to  be  the  most  powerful  and  wealthy  nation  on  the 
globe. 

The  characteristic  violence  of  the  passions  of  the  En- 
glish nation  extends  its  despotism  to  poison  the  inesti- 
mable and  only  source  of  wisdom  and  happiness,  the  lib- 
erty of  the  press.  And  while  truth  beams  with  celestial 
and  auspicious  glory  from  the  pens  of  many  enlightened, 
independent,  and  liberal  authors,  the  ephemeral  and  pe- 
riodical productions  of  the  press,  under  the  title  of  news- 
papers, journals,  pamphlets  &c.  &c.  throw  mud  and  dirt 
from  the  common  sewer  of  avarice  and  interest,  into  the 
eyes  of  those  who  would  look  up  to  the  splendid  orbs 
of  wisdom.  But  these  base  prostitutes  of  human  rea- 
son, like  the  female  prostitutes,  haunt  the  roads  of  busi- 
ness and  pleasure  to  seize  their  votaries,  and  sacrifice 
in  a  similiar  manner  wisdom  and  virtue,  to  gain  a  base 
and  dishonorable  subsistence.  The  news-papers  of  this 
country  are  disgraceful  to  its  characteristic  wisdom;  they 
are  mere  Newgate  Calendars  or  Court  Diaries,  dis- 
playing the  ingenuity  of  house-breakers,  and  the  contemp- 
tible operations  of  the  conduct,  dresses  and  carnages 
at  a  levee.  Their  censure  is  so  illiberal,  that  it  recoils 
with  contempt  upon  the  authors ;  their  anecdotes  are  fur- 
nished from  the  lives  of  whores  and  gamesters,  of  whom 
a  news-paper  forms  a  complete  biography,  and  marks 


6@  THE   MORAL   STATE   OF  ENGLAND. 

with  distinguished  paragraphs  their  only  heroes,  bruisers, 
pick-pockets  and  sharpers ;  and  was  it  not  for  an  acci- 
dental epistolary  correspondence,  their  prostitution,  igno- 
rance and  falsehood  would  render  them,  instead  of  the 
sentinels  of  liberty,  the  agents  of  error  and  despotism. 

England,  the  happiest  of  nations,  propelled  by  a  pow- 
erful aggregate  mass  of  wisdom  and  virtue,  which  pre- 
dominates over  a  great  and  weighty  mass  of  vice,  is 
still  rising  upon  the  broad  arc  of  its  political  hemisphere; 
but  luxury  and  conquest  bear  hard  upon  the  point  to 
force  it  to  a  declination.  Public  orators  arraign  the  fe- 
rocious hand  of  conquest,  but  their  text  being  suspected 
from  their  insufficiency  of  character  and  measures,  they 
serve  only  to  tear  the  veil  from  the  treacherous  acts  of 
unrelenting  policy,  and  extend  the  Machiaveliau  spirit 
from  the  contracted  sphere  of  ministerial  council,  to  the 
assembly  of  the  people,  and  the  sacred  palladium  of  the 
constitution.  The  House  of  Lords  is  forced  to  the  hu- 
miliating and  mortifying  dilemma  of  either  sacrificing 
the  sacred  and  rigid  character  of  the  judge,  or  the  patri- 
otism of  the  zealous  and  compromising  political  minister. 
The  sophistry  of  these  mock  patriots  and  verbal  orators 
brings  the  most  atrocious  crime  of  murder  in  the  dillem- 
ma  of  policy,  to  be  palliated  and  modified  in  a  British 
senate.  How  much  is  it  to  be  dreaded,  that  this  politi- 
cal casuistry  should  iri  a  short  period  totally  debase  and 
corrupt  individual  integrity  and  sympathy,  which  I  have 
before  shown  to  substantiate  all  forms  of  government, 
and  render  force  and  policy  almost  unnecessary. 

If  there  was  a  citizen,  the  greatness  of  whose  mind 
possessing  (the  essence  of  virtue,)  sympathy  and  probi- 
ty, could  comprehend  the  happiness  of  all  his  fellow- 
creatures  in  every  part  of  the  globe,  he  would,  in  the  en- 
thusiasm of  humanity,  drag  nations  to  the  bar  of  con- 
science, and  make  (hem  depose,  upon  the  altar  of  justice, 
to  expiate  their  guilt,  ail  the  unjust  conquests  of  domain 
and  property,  and  not  add  ingratitude  to  treachery,  by 
offering  up  the  head  of  *.he  citizen,  who  in  the  zeal  of 
patriotism  mistook  policy  for  justice,  as  an  illusive  sac- 


ITS   FUTURE   POLITICAL  PROSPECTS. 


S3 


rifice,  which  would  be  rather  an  insult  than   adoration  of 
that  holy  shrine. 

Having  exposed  the  [negative]  extreme  and  lowest 
degree  upon  the  scale  of  happiness,  of  a  nation  possess- 
ing the  most  elevated  rank  on  that  of  grandeur,  I  shall 
in  conclusion,  open  to  it  the  consoling  PROSPECTS  of  fu- 
turity. 

The  political  thunderbolt  that  shook  down  the  pyra- 
mid of  civil  government  of  France  to  its  foundation,  was 
the  accumulated  weight  of  public  debt :  this  storm  is 
gathering  fast  in  this  island.  The  government  of  this 
country  stands  on  the  broad  basis  of  a  truncated  pyra- 
mid, which  will  resist  equally  the  shock  of  policy  and 
the  hand  of  repair ;  and  should  the  corroding  damp  of 
luxury  not  destroy  the  cement  of  integrity,  sympathy  and 
wisdom,  in  the  base  or  people,  it  may  receive  the  vio- 
lence of  the  shock,  and  be  happily  subverted  by  changing 
its  base.  This  was  not  the  case  in  France,  the  pyra- 
mid placed  on  its  point  fell  from  a  great  height,  and  having 
no  constituent  cement  in  the  great  body  of  the  people,  it 
was  reduced  to  such  a  dust  as  will  require  the  education 
of  a  century  to  prepare  the  cement  of  unity  under  any 
form.* 

If  the  aristocracy  of  England  had  as  much  wisdom  as 
they  have  ambition,  they  would  not  only  prepare  con- 
ductors of  reform,  as  the  storm  of  public  debt  lowers, 
and  the  taxes,  (vivid  flasiies  of  the  lightning  of  individual 
misery,)  indicate  the  dreadful  momentum  of  the  falling 
thunderbolt;  but  they  would  extend  the  basis  of  the 

*  Observation  of  much  Importance. 

Insolvent  debtors  have  been  declared  by  the  National  Assem- 
bly of  France,  unworthy  of  the  rights  of  citizens  5  while  the 
same  characters  have  had  the  audacity  to  solicit,  and  the  nation 
of  England  the  baseness  to  appoint  them  to  the  office  of  sena- 
tors and  chief  magistrates.  Luxury  and  debauchery  are  rapidly 
introducing  into  this  country,  a  base  indifference  towards  the 
moral  characters  of  candidates  for  public  offices ;  a  certain  prog- 
riostic  of  the  decline  and  fall  of  all  constituted  governments. 


64  THE   MORAL    STATE   OF   ENGLAND. 

fabric  of  government,  by  reforming  and  extending  the  re- 
presentation of  the  people,  which  would  so  far  resist  the 
shock,  that  the  mass,  by  being  well  incorporated,  would 
not  be  demolished  but  removed  only  by  the  most  violent 
impulse,  to  a  more  happy  and  secure  position. 

The  mode  of  organization  of  society  is  to  the  nation 

•  what  the  economy  of  the  passions  is  to  the  individual ; 

*  the  only  means  to  procure  well-being  or  happiness,  and 
for  a  nation  to  be  well  constituted,  every  native  must 
partake  of  its  government ;  this  may  debilitate  the  arm 
of  attack,  but  in  the  same  ratio  it  invigorates  the  arm  oi 
defence.     In  proportion  as 'the  circle  of  government  ex- 
tends itself,  luxury,  vice,   ambition   and  all  the  evils  of 
despotism  are  contracted;  and  the  mind  losing  all  fero- 
city and  martial  vigor,  in  the  progress  of  society  to  such 
a  state  of  perfection,  may  render  such  happy  people  ex- 
posed to  the  inroads  of  neighboring  corrupted  kingdoms, 
or  savage  hordes.     This  would  be  the  case  but  that  the 
glorious  and  moral  effulgence  which  radiates  from  their 
happiness,  will  not  fail  to  enlighten  and  civilize  the  sur- 
rounding nations,   and  dart  its  auspicious  and  congenial 
rays  to  the  utmost  extent  of  the  globe. 

O  England^  NATURE  thus  calls  upon  you  to  accom- 
plish her  labors  and  ends,  and  procure  happiness  to  all 
her  creatures. 

"  O  my  favorite  and  long  cherished  isle !  I  have  pla- 
ced thee  on  the  globe  in  a  position,  separated  from  its 
inhabitants,  and  fortified  by  the  seas ;  I  have  bestowed 
on  thee  fertility  of  soil,  and  a  congenial  temperate  cli- 
mate; I  have  most  partially  endowed  thy  inhabitants 
with  the  greatest  powers  of  mind,  and  the  best  virtues  of 
the  heart.  Thou  shalt  be  the  fountain  oi'  light,  the 
source  of  happiness,  and  the  glorious  instrument  I  have 
chosen,  for  procuring  to  my  works,  that  moral  perfection 
for  which  I  constantly  labor.  The  liberty  of  the  press 
forms  that  holy  source ;  guard  it,  O  Bntons !  from  its 
most  dangerous  enemies,  despotism  and  error;  let  not 
their  unhallowed  violence  profane  the  sanctity  of  its 
temple;  it  is  the  high  priest  of  the  God  I  adore — TRUTH. 


THE  INVOCATION  OF  NATURE.  65 

It  is  the  aurora  that  precedes  the  moral  sun,  which  shall 
enlighten  the  dark  hemisphere  of  ignorance  and  error ; 
that  has  already  operated  in  the  Western  hemisphere,  to 
form  several  nations  of  free  citizens  ;  that  has  destroyed 
the  despotism  of  a  formidable  empire  in  the  Eastern 
hemisphere,  and  erected  the  state  of  liberty  on  its  ruins. 
I  now  conjure  you,  in  the  name  of  liberty  and  truth,  to 
open  the  glorious  source,  the  press,  and  correct  your 
own  errors,  by  the  means  by  which  you  have  demolished 
those  of  other  nations.  Let  not  the  merit  of  the  pupil 
make  the  tutor  blush  at  a  comparative  view  of  excellence. 
America  has  amply  and  gratefully  recognized  my  gift  of 
liberty,  by  the  veneration  of  the  liberty  of  the  press 
above  all  nations,  and  I  should  transfer  my  tutelage  and 
partiality  for  this  isle  to  that  continent,  but  for  that  mo- 
ral and  physical  unity  arising  from  the  love  of  truth  and 
exnvise  of  thought,  which  assures,  in  an  essential  and 
singular  manner,  the  perpituity  of  the  English  empire. 

1  Since,  then,  I  have  favored  you  with  these  inesti- 
ma-'le  advantages,  transfer  your  hopes  and  labors  for  pow- 
er and  riches,  to  peace  and  happiness.  To  effect  this, 
the  absolute  liberty  of  the  press,  on  all  speculative  sub- 
jects, is  necessary  to  call  your  superior  intellectual  pow- 
ers into  exercise,  to  oppose  the  enormous  strength  of 
your  passions ;  «or  do  I  think  that  private  character 
should  be  privileged.  Calumny,  with  all  its  treachery, 
would  then  be  transferred  to  public  reproach;  virtue 
would  have  nothing  to  fear,  and  vice  would,  at  least, 
have  a  fair  trial.  This  would  prepare,  by  the  light  of 
reason,  such  unanimity  of  sentiment  in  the  unity  of  truth, 
that  all  adopted  political  reforms  would  be  a  gradual  and 
tranquil  extension  of  the  base  of  government,  by  an  uni- 
versal representation.*  This  would,  in  the  same  propor- 

*  This  operation  of  reason  through  the  channel  of  a  free  press, 
would  offer  an  antidote  to  the  baneful  effects  of  luxury  and  con- 
quest, which  threaten  to  destroy  that  valuable  and  characteristic 
moral  cement,  which  will  still  hold  society  together,  whatever 
change  of  position  the  mass  may  take  from  the  concussions  of 
policy.  *-6 


66  THE  MORAL   STATE   OP  NATIONS, 

tion,  extend  happiness  to  every  individual,  and  the  na- 
tion will  arrive  at  that  glorious  eminence,  which  I  have 
predestined  to  it  before  all  others ;  and  with  the  ema- 
nation of  light  from  its  press,  and  the  more  converting 
example  of  its  virtue,  they  will  first  establish  domesti- 
cally, and  then  universally,  the  empire  of  happiness,  or 
State  of  Enlightened  NATURE." 


[Jls  the  author,  in  his  list  of  nations,  has  not  mentioned 
SCOTLAND,  he  probably  mtended  to  include  it  in  the 
preceding  account  of  England.] 


[To  palliate  the  severity  of  the  following  strictures  on 
IRELAND,  it  may  be  premised  that  such  redeeming  spir- 
its as  SWIFT,  E,  FITZGERALD,  ORR,  EMMET,  CURRAN, 
GRATTAN,  T.  WOLFE  TONE,  MONTGOMERY,  MATURIN, 
MARLA  EDGEWORTH,  THOMAS  MOORE,  SHIEL  and  O'CoN- 
NELL,  show  the  high  degree  of  intellectual  and  moral  ele- 
vation^ of  which  tlie  IRISH  character  is  susceptible,  and 
which  it  may  eventually  attain,  if  liberated  from  the  oppres- 
sive and  withering  despotism,  of  the  author's  boasted  Eng- 
land. In  the  conclusion  of  this  icor/c,  he  explains : — u  I 
have  censured  most,  those  nations  whose  individuals  I 
most  love,  and  with  whom  I  most  live ;  I  mean  the  Irish 
and  the  French,  whose  urbanity,  facility,  joyous  and  lib- 
eral characters  are  as  pleasing,"  &c.] 


ME   MORAL   STATE   OP  NATION).  67 


IRELAND. 

THOUGH  this  country  is  united  under  the  same  sove- 
reign, governed  by  the  same  constitution,  laws,  customs 
and  education,  [  ?  as  Great  Britain,]  yet  the  individuals 
differ  so  much  in  moral  character,  that  the  paradoxical 
axiom  of  Pope, 

"  For  forms  of  government  let  fools  contest, 
"  That  which  is  best  administered  is  best," 

is  solved  and  explained  by  the  extreme  and  unparalleled 
misery  of  this  people. 

The  mind  of  the  native  of  this  island  is  so  peculiarly 
devoid  of  its  anticipative  and  reflective  power,  that  it 
has  not  prospective  capacity  to  the  short  period  of  a 
sentence,  to  explain  an  idea  with  perspicuity  and  cor- 
rectness ;  and  hence  arise  those  blunders  of  speech^ 
termed  bulls  in  their  discourse ;  hence  also  arises  that 
want  of  intellect,  sympathy  and  probity,  the  constituent 
parts  of  virtue,  displayed  by  the  national  character  of 
effrontery,  which  removes  all  fear  to  offend,  and  all  ap- 
prehension of  disgrace,  from  too  familiar  deportment,  and 
thoughtless  loquacity ;  testified  also  by  the  aptitude  to 
enter  into  foreign  service,  and  put  to  death  their  fellow- 
creatures  to  obtain  a  livelihood  less  honorable  in  the  eye 
of  unprejudiced  reason  than  the  profession  of  a  highway- 
man ;  hence  their  indifference  to  murder,  and  propensity, 
nay  even  pleasure  in  the  contest  of  blood,  by  frequent 
duels,  that  sometime  ago  were  said  to  be  a  pastime  in  a 
Dublin  coffee-house,  and  even  now  in  those  of  Galway ; 
hence  the  droves  of  fortune-hunters,  sharpers,  gamesters 
and  malefactors  with  which  that  country  inundates  its 
neighbors;  hence  that  character  of  falsehood  that  is  be- 
come a  proverb,  and  an  Irish  evidence  is  synonomous 
with  perjury. 

From  this  sum  of  individual  corruption  the  aggregate 
of  society  or  government  is  formed,  and  it  proves  by  an 


68  TUB   MORAL   STATE   OF   IRELAND. 

unconcealed  and  audacious  prostitution  of  its  members, 
that  it  is  a  perfect  representation  of  its  people.  The 
administration  of  justice,  the  palladium  of  liberty 5  flowing 
from  the  same  impure  source,  is  equally  infected.  The 
subordinate  civil  officers  prostitute  their  consciences, 
and  betray  the  sacred  and  sovereign  trust  of  judicial  au- 
thority, by  compromising,  or  conniving  at  felonies,  and 
committing  to  prison  a  poor  man  who  shall  resent,  with 
opprobrious  language,  the  insult  and  tyranny  of  cruel  and 
avaricious  landlords,  whose  dissipation,  libertinism,  and 
defective  intellect  incapable  of  knowing  fear,  under  the 
specious  names  of  liberality  and  courage,  tear  the  bread 
from  the  famished  mouth  of  the  peasant,  and  render  him 
«o  wretched,  that  he  might  emigrate  to  Turkey,  and  there 
be  blessed  and  receive  from  the  equitable  administration 
of  an  honest  despot,  a  happiness  which  the  unprincipled 
administration  of  liberty  refused.* 

The  state  of  this  country  teaches  an  instructive  les- 
ion to  all  mankind,  and  shows  that  the  mind  must  be 
enlightened,  and  the  heart  humanized  before  any  form  of 
association  can  procure  public  happiness.  The  mind  of 
this  country  is  in  such  a  manner  deprived  of  a  providen- 
tial reflection,  that  instead  of  avoiding,  it  rushes  on  ap- 
proaching and  future  danger ;  and  individuals  frequently 
oppose  the  whole  body  of  the  nation  in  the  collection  of 
taxes,  recovery  of  rents,  and  execution  of  laws.  Sub- 
ordination is  unknown,  and  great  military  force  can 
alone  effect,  what  an  inoffensive  symbol  of  office  in  the 
hand  of  an  old  woman,  would  and  does  execute  in  every 
civilized  country  upon  the  face  of  the  globe. 

Happy  is  it  for  the  rest  of  the  earth,  that  this  nation 
of  monsters,  like  tigers  or  lions,  cannot  act  in  droves 

*  Unparalleled  violence !  disgraceful  to  civilization.  The  rents 
of  small  farms  in  this  country  are  collected  with  more  violence, 
arms  and  bloodshed,  than  imperial  tributes  are  in  the  savage  states 
of  Asia.  The  courageous  great,  urged  by  extravagance  and  lux- 
ury, dare  withhold  indulgence  from  the  ferocious  and  oppressed 
tenant. 


IGNORANC.E,   VICE   AND   MISERY.  69 

or  unity.  That  very  ignorance  which  makes  them  indif- 
ferent to  danger  or  their  own  preservation,  would  ena- 
ble them  to  violate  and  subdue  the  rights  and  liberties  of 
all  mankind,  but  religion  has  destroyed  that  union,  and 
as  if  to  expiate  the  misery  it  has  caused  for  many  ages 
past ,  here  operates  a  powerful  good,  destroying  by  big- 
otry all  union,  and  forces  them  to  turn  their  sanguinary 
talons  upon  themselves,  which  diverts  and  disables  them 
from  oppressing  and  enslaving  the  rest  of  mankind. 

The  character  of  the  Irish  nation  is  a  moral  phenom- 
enon, which  proves  above  all  other  evidence,  that  man- 
kind has  its  species  as  well  as  the  brute  kind.  It  may 
be  evinced  from  observation,  that  in  proportion  as  the 
powers  of  animation  convey  energy  to. the  passions,  it 
gives  it  to  the  mental  faculties.  We  must  here  take  no- 
tice, that  it  is  sensibility  I  speak  of,  and  not  any  par- 
ticular passion.  In  the  course  of  my  observation,  I  have 
always  found  good  sense  associated  therewith ;  but  in 
the  moral  constitution  of  the  Irish  nation  I  find  this 
quality  all  on  the  side  of  passion,  and  the  mind  that  sees 
with  wonderful  perspicuity  on  one  side  of  the  object  un- 
der contemplation,  is  absolutely  incapable  to  take  a  sim- 
ultaneous view  of  all  its  parts,  and  possesses  neither 
extension  nor  profundity. 

The  cause  of  this  lays  beyond  the  power  of  discovery; 
the  cure,  however,  does  not;  for  we  see,  in  those  per- 
sons who  have  long  associated  with  the  English  nation, 
more  capacity  to  think,  than  in  others  who  have  not  had 
that  advantage,  and  their  natural  ferocity  of  temper 
wears  off  in  proportion  as  that  faculty  augments. 

The  means  of  bringing  this  nation  to  make  any  pro- 
gress in  the  attainment  of  wisdom  and  happiness,  will' 
be  to  select  virtuous  characters  from  their  own  sister 
kingdom,  to  place  them  in  the  offices  of  civil  and  politi- 
cal administration,  choose  them  for  ministers  of  reli- 
gion, and  masters  of  education.  Let  a  more  intimate 
intercourse  of  marriage  and  residence  with  England  be 
established  as  a  system ;  and  it  is  only  by  such  univer- 
sal communication  and  influence,  that  the  present  animal 


TO  THE   MORAL   STATE   OF    IRELAND, 

existence  of  an  Irishman  can  be  brought  into  intellectual 
existence ;  and  when  they  enter  into  that  happy  orbit,  let 
them  learn  from  the  dreadful  example  of  misery  and  de- 
cline, which  policy  and  luxury  must  in  a  short  period 
bring  upon  their  sister  kingdom,  that  intellectual  power 
is  to  be  employed  in  studying  man,  to  discover  the  state 
of  well-being  in  conformity  to  his  nature ;  and  that  vvis- 
dow  and  virtue  are  the  means  to  procure  it,  as  wealth 
and  grandeur  are  to  destroy  it  socially  and  individually. 

Pardon  me,  virtuous  characters  of  Ireland,  if  the  en- 
thusiasm with  which  I  embrace  the  cause  of  suffering 
humanity,  should  force  me  to  a  severity  of  censure, 
which  may  wound  the  feelings  of  patriotism.*  I  lament 
that  prejudice  has  such  an  influence  over  the  pride  of 
virtue  and  honor,  that  it  sympathizes  in  the  groans  of  its 
tortured  enemies — vice  and  ignorance. 

I  mean  to  inflame  your  resentment — I  mean  to  ani- 
mate you.  Satire  should  touch  the  quick  of  man,  self- 
love.  This  urges  him  to  action,  and  is  unlike  the  so- 
phistry of  measured  rhetorical  periods,  which  serve  but 
to  burthen  his  memory  and  confound  his  reason.  Ani- 
mated language,  like  electrical  tire,  strikes  all  minds  with 
the  same  force,  in  the  same  moment.  It  is  the  energy 
of  simple  words  that  creates  thought — thought,  action — 
and  action  by  the  combination  of  numbers,  produces  ir- 
resistible force  and  efficacy  to  whatever  it  may  be  ap- 
plied. 

*  Like  a  skilful  and  unpitying  surgeon,  I  must  cut  into  the  gan- 
grene, though  the  sound  flesh  must  sutler  in  the  operation. 


THE   MORAL   STATE   OF   NATIONS. 


FRANCE. 


How  important  is  the  situation  of  this  numerous  arirl 
powerful  nation,  having  torn  from  the  hands  of  the  mon- 
ster, tyranny,  the  iron  sceptre  that  oppressed  it  with 
fear  and  terror,  and  laboring  under  the  rage  of  enthusi- 
asm, to  put  the  silken  fetters  of  law  and  order  upon  ihe 
convulsed  and  active  arm  of  Struggling  Liberty!  The 
contemplative  regard  of  the  whole  world,  anxious  lor 
the  fate  of  humanity,  attends  upon  this  political  phe- 
nomenon— this  wonderful  event,  that  eclipses  in  impor- 
tance and  novelty  the  whole  records  of  universal  history. 

I  will  not  attempt  to  augur  success  or  failure;  but 
while  I  congnftulate  them  upon  their  glorious  triumph 
over  tyranny,  I  will  proceed  to  examine  the  source  of  all 
good  and  evil,  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  individuals 
of  whom  this  nation  is  formed,  and  by  exposing  the  de- 
fects, propose  such  means  of  improvement,  as  may  for- 
ward the  end  of  all  association — human  happiness. 

This  land  is  most  partially  and  eminently  blessed  by- 
Nature  in  all  its  physical  relations;  the  climate  is  heal- 
thy and  the  soil  productive.  Man,  here  possesses  an 
instinct,  [LOVE.]  which  has  given  him  an  animal  happi- 
ness superior  to  all  other  people,  enabling  him  to  fill  up 
the  moment  with  pleasure,  inducing  him  to  adopt  it  as  a 
system  and  to  study  it  as  a  science ;  while  a  neighbor- 
ing nation  acquires  it  by  stealth  or  accident,  regarding  it 
as  -as  an  enemy  to  public  and  individual  prosperity. 

This  nation,  even  while  it  was  convulsed  in  political 
apathy  and  slavery,  enjoyed  the  most  perfect  moral  liber- 
ty ;  and  he  who  was  so  fortunate  as  to  escape  the  re- 
gards of  political  tyranny,  was  the  freest  man  upon  the 
globe.  Nature  has  blessed  the  mind  with  such  instinc- 
tive toleration,  that  foibles  are  reciprocally  pardoned. 
Here  the  fiend  jealousy  that  cursed  enemy  to  human  hap- 
piness, holds  not  in  a  state  of  torture  and  subjection, 


72  THE   MORAL   STATE   OF   FRANCE, 

love,  the  first  and  freest  affection  of  the  human  heart. 
Instinct,  unerring,  shows  the  chains  of  love  to  be  form- 
ed by  the  imponderous  links  of  attraction,  and  where  their 
influence  is  not  felt,  to  bind  it  with  the  iron  chains  of 
violence  and  force,  is  regarded  as  equally  foolish  and 
atrocious.  Jealousy,  in  a  liberal  mind,  operates  only  in 
regret,  and  struggles  to  regain  a  lost,  beloved  object,  by 
redoubling  its  effort  to  please,  and  when  this  does  riot 
succeed,  and  hope  is  swallowed  up  by  despair,  the  re- 
jected lover  leaves  the  pursuit,  and  forgets  the  disap- 
pointment in  the  affection  of  some  more  congenial  object. 
This  country  from  its  state  of  moral  liberty,  has  been 
the  asylum  to  persecuted  Nature:  here  Southern  nations, 
of  amorous  weakness  and  tenderness,  withdrew  from 
their  detested  regions,  bedewed  with  the  blood  of  love's 
victims,  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  vindictive  jealousy : 
here  those  of  the  West  withdrew  from  the  morose,  ill- 
natured  censure  of  innumerable  laws  of  social  decorum, 
and  found  a  congenial  spirit  of  liberality,  that  gave  res- 
piration to  the  suffocation  of  endless  oppressive  formali- 
ties :  here  the  nations  of  the  North  exchanged  the  heavy 
moral  and  physical  atmosphere,  for  one  more  light  and 
gay;  and  the  mind,  contracted  by  rigid  rules  and  customs, 
expanded  in  the  mild  region  of  genius  and  pleasure. 

If  this  great  blessing  of  moral  liberty  be  secured  un- 
der the  benign  and  auspicious  influence  of  a  free  consti- 
tution; and  if  to  the  animal  enjoyments  of  pleasure  could 
be  added,  by  the  force  of  wisdom,  intellectual  happiness, 
a  native  of  this  country  would  be  chosen  as  an  example 
to  the  world,  of  a  man  existing  in  a  state  of  enlightened 
Nature. 

O  Frenchmen !  how  glorious  is  the  attempt  of  your 
present  revolution ;  the  hearts  and  happiness  of  all  man 
kind  are  interested.  Permit  me,  with  the  zeal  of  a  child 
of  Nature,  sympathizing  with  all  sensitive  matter,  to 
expose  to  you  the  conceptions  of  an  unprejudiced  in- 
genuous mind,  which,  though  they  may  not  have  the  con- 
sistency or  perfectability  of  system,  may  be  as  scatter* 


THE  DEPLORABLE  WANT  OF  CONFIDENCE.     /** 

cd  rays  of  light,  which,  concentrated  by  more  able  minds, 
may  produce  efficient  heat. 

The  connections  of  every  intellect  under  novel  com- 
binations, are  rays  of  reason,  purified  and  proved  by 
the  collision  of  many  minds.  The  press  unbounded  and 
absolutely  free,  is  the  divine  force,  which  by  communi- 
cation with  moral  Nature,  extended  over  the  whole 
globe,  would  concentrate  those  rays  with  such  abun- 
dance, that  when  applied  to  error,  they  would  so  instan- 
taneously volatilize  it,  that  not  an  atom  would  remain, 
and  human  happiness  would  reign  without  an  enemy  to 
combat. 

This  glorious  attempt  to  establish  the  onto  form  of 
constitution,  which  reason  presents,  and  virtue  adopts, 
requires  that  every  citizen  must  consent,  by  deputy  or 
in  person,  to  the  laws  which  bind  him  in  society,  aud  can 
be  procured  or  supported  only  by  the  great  powers  of 
the  mind,  called  reflection,  and  the  great  virtues  of  the 
heart,  probity  and  sympathy. 

Do  ye,  that  is,  the  majority  of  yoflr  nation,  possess 
these?  I  have  lived  much  among  you,  to  partake  of 
your  animal  pleasures,  but  my  intellectual  existence  could 
find  no  associate,  and  became  irksome.  I  saw  a  lamen^ 
table  absence  of  these  perfections — I  found  your  minds 
possessed  of  all  that  knowledge  could  give,  retentive  and 
full  memories,  inventive  imaginations,  good  judgments, 
fruitful  in  works  of  ingenuity,  and  having  produced  "  the 
System  of  Nature,"  the  greatest  effort  of  human  wisdom, 
to  destroy  error  :  but  alas  !  I  found  not  the  divine  pow- 
er, that  soul  of  intellect,  reflection ;  that  power  that 
leaves  the  intellect  of  Newton  at  as  great  a  distance,  as 
he  has  left  instinct ;  that  gives  to  man  the  only  knowl- 
edge worth  acquiring,  the  knowledge  of  himself;  and 
that  alone  should,  or  can  be  called  wisdom.  The  mind 
that  possesses  this,  must  possess  probity,  and  must 
convey  to  the  heart  that  sympathy,  which  identifies  it 
with  Nature,  and  regenerates  it  to  intellectual  existence, 
happiness  and  immortality. 

The  melancholy  proofs,  that  you  want  the  virtues  of 


74  THE  MORAL   STATE   OF   FRANCE. 

probity  and  sympathy,  are  to  be  discovered  in  the  asso- 
ciation of  Nature,  domestic  society.  Here  the  demon 
of  envy  rages,  and  all  characters  of  merit,  or  objects  of 
success,  are  constantly  the  subjects  of  discourse,  to  be- 
come  the  butts  of  calumny  and  hatred;  and  this  in  so  / 
peculiar  a  manner,  that  is  become  a  characteristic  of  the  f 
nation.  The  want  of  every  species  of  confidence  is  an 
ample  and  conclusive  proof  of  the  absence  of  those  vir- 
tues that  give  worth  and  dignity  to  human  nature.  Po- 
litical confidence  had  never  an  existence ;  and  civil, 
which  must  have  that  for  its  basis,  was  unkown,  as  is 
evinced  by  an  absolute  incapacity  to  form  commercial 
associations,  and  by  suffering  other  nations  possessing 
confidence,  England  and  Holland,  to  carry  on  your  prop- 
er and  natural  commerce,  and  even  the  insurance  of  the 
national  maritime  commerce,  carried  on  by  rich  individu- 
als. 

At  this  important  crisis  of  the  happiest  revolution  in 
form  and  means,  that  annals  or  history  records ;  the 
whole  body  of  the  nation,  completely  and  satisfactorily 
represented  and  concentrated,  pledging  their  private  and 
public  faith  to  fulfil  the  engagements  of  the  nation;  was 
there  a  grain  of  confidence  in  the  people,  surely  it  would 
come  forth  at  so  glorious  a  period,  when  the  salvation 
of  their  liberties  calls  for  the  immediate  aid  of  that  vir- 
tue, and  adds  the  allurement  of  immense  gain  to  the  in- 
citement of  public  honor  and  safety.  But  alas!  the 
shouts  of  triumphant  liberty  are  deadened  by  the  multipli- 
ed murmurs  of  suspicion,  selfish  love,  and  in  the  deliri- 
um of  emancipated  slavery,  confidence 'is  not  to  be  found. 

Alas!  I  tremble  for  the  destiny  of  the  expectant,  im- 
patient and  attentive  world,  lest  the  lustre  of  your  po- 
litical revolution  should,  like  an  ignis  fatuus,  draw  other 
nations  to  the  precipice  of  emancipation ;  for  who,  that 
knows  human  nature,  would  instantly  unshackle  the  Af- 
rican slaves,  without  preparing  their  minds  to  receive 
freedom,  lest  the  disorder  of  anarchy  might  let  loose 
mankind  in  the  delirium  of  licentiousness,  to  destroy 
one  another  ? 


DEPLORABLE  WANT  OF  CONFIDENCE.  75 

1  fear  that  liberty  has,  with  rapid  strides,  out-run  vir- 
tue in  this  country ;  and  if  that  is  the  case,  it  will  be 
the  demon  of  licentiousness  broke  loose  from  the  chains 
of  arbitrary  coercion,  wielding  the  sword  of  anarchy  with 
blind  zeal  and  vindictive  fury,  till  exhausted  with  the 
violence  of  its  own  struggles,  it  sheaths  the  sword,  and; 
in  a  fit  of  despair,  bows  its  head  to  the  galling,  though' 
less  destructive  yoke  of  despotism. 

I  still  hope,  however,  that  there  is  virtue  enough  in 
France,  to  suppress  licentiousness,  natural  and   in  the 
present  moment  even  necessary,  to  aid  the  weakness  of 
virtue,  by  overawing  vice  in  this  country ;  where  confi- 
dence had  long  been  unknown,  it  was  impossible  to  have 
established   liberty   upon    a    constitution.     The   people 
have  done  wisely  to  take  the  government  into  their  own 
hands,  and  had  they  placed  a  confidence  in  acjr  form, 
they  would  certainly  have  been  betrayed.     O  French- 
men !  pursue  this  mode,  till  education  and  custom,  aided 
by  the  revolution,  shall  introduce  a  system  of  virtue  and 
confidence;  then,  and  then  only  can  you  repose  in  repre- 
sentatives ;  and  though  you  may  lose  in  power  and  ener- 
gy, you  will  be  amply  recompensed  in  the  gain  of  liberty. 
Emancipate  yourselves  from  the  slavery  of  women  ; 
separate  the  corporeal  from  the  intellectual  pleasure,  and 
esteem  a  woman  as  a  man  for  moral  worth  only,  and 
know,  that  virtue  is  placed  in  the  mind,  and  ru)t  in  the 
ignoble  parts  of  the  body,  formed  only  for  sensual  plea- 
sure.    An   opposite  opinion  is   the  effect  of  folly   and 
vanity;  which  passion,   the   dreg  of  humanity,    woman 
plays  upon  to  dupe  mankind  to  adopt  her  vice  and  weak- 
ness.    Promote  assiduously  the  good  education  of  wo- 
man, and  bring  her  to  her  natural   equality  in  intellect 
with  man,  that  she  may  claim  her  equality  in  society, 
and  then  only  will  she  become  a  worthy  member,  and 
assent  to  the  great  moral  truth,  that  virtue  is  placed  in 
the   mind.     But  while  man  keeps  her  in  ignorance  and 
subjection,  she  will  oppose  such  an  axiom  as  deprives 
her  of  all  worth  and  consequence.     What  a  dreadful  re- 
flection for  the.  interests  of  humanity !    The  tyranny  of 


76  THE  MORAL   STATE   OF  PRANCE. 

man  depriving  woman  of  dignity  and  virtue,  while  Na- 
ture has  given  her  powers  to  subjugate  her  tyrant,  and 
force  his  wisdom  to  be  controlled  by  her  folly,  which  is 
the  cause  of  the  greatest  part  of  the  misery  of  the  whole 
human  race. 

Government  in  a  country  bordering  upon  powerful  em- 
pires, where  foreign  policy,  population  and  commerce 
are  so  active  as  in  France,  must  have  energy,  or  it 
would  fall  a  prey  to  the  more  concentrated  powers  of 
neighboring  states.  This,  liberty  would  furnish,  in  a 
most  efficacious  manner ;  but  then  it  must  be  founded  in 
virtue,  and  the  preponderating  mass  or  majority  of  the . 
people  must  possess,  Wisdom,  Probity  and  Sympathy, 
the  essence  of  all  private  and  public  Virtue. 

Hasten  then,  O  Frenchmen !  to  accelerate  the  progress 
of  these  virtues,  the  cause  of  all  sound  happiness,  and 
the  true  substance  of  all  government.  Send  over  your 
youth  to  the  island  of  truth  and  virtue,  England — let 
them  there  receive  their  education  to  an  adult  age — en- 
courage English  preceptors  to  transfer  themselves  to  your 
country  to  educate,  by  instruction  and  example,  the 
youths  in  all  the  colleges  and  universities  of  France ; 
and  thus,  to  the  physical  blessings  of  your  own  country, 
adding  the  moral  blessings  of  your  neighbors,  you  may 
furnish  an  example  of  human  perfection,  to  be  a  model 
to  all  rising  and  reforming  nations  upon  the  globe. 

Be  cautious  in  your  choice;  the  strong  and  violent 
passions  of  an  Englishman,  when  they  triumph  over  a 
very  powerful  reason,  produce  such  monsters,  that  they 
would  bring  among  you  all  the  evils  of  ignorance  and 
vice,  that  afflict  and  disgrace  humanity.  In  the  same 
country  are  to  be  found  bigots,  enemies  to  reason ;  bloods 
and  boxers,  enemies  to  humanity ;  sharpers  and  game- 
sters, enemies  to  honesty ;  and  public  orators,  under  the 
mask  of  patriotism,  enemies  to  society.  Select  those 
great  characters  alone  deserving  the  name  of  men,  the 
integrity  and  sympathy  of  whose  minds  forms  a  prepon- 
derating mass  in  the  aggregate  of  society;  and  who, 
while  they  secure  the  social  union  amid  the  most  dread- 


ITS    STUPENDOUS    REVOLUTION.  77 

ful  concussions  of  vice,  give  it  an  efficacy  to  procure 
domestic  peace,  and  an  avowed  superiority  over  all  oth- 
er nations  of  the  globe. 

When  I  contemplate  the  REVOLUTION  of  this  country, 
I  am  appalled  with  my  reflections,  and  seem  to  regret 
the  absence  of  the  monster  despotism.  I  think  I  see 
the  moral  world  convulsed  and  swallowed  up  in  the 
dreadful  chasm  and  abyss  of  anarchy.  The  moral  hem- 
isphere, surrounded  with  the  darkness  of  civil  and  reli- 
gious error,  presents  a  desolating  scene — priests  running 
about  with  the  blazing  torch  of  superstition,  causing 
dreadful  conflagrations,  and  with  alternate  fire  and  dark- 
ness dazzle  and  confound  the  intellectual  eye,  and  pre- 
cipitate the  followers  into  the  dreadful  chasm!  The 
moral  earthquake  has  opened.  Mock  patriots,  led  by 
the  fury  of  ambition  to  profit  by  these  troubles,  augment 
the  incension,  and  precipitate  those  whom  the  enthusi- 
astic fury  of  the  priests  had  spared. 

The  liberty  of  the  press,  whose  sparks  the  despot 
trampled  upon  and  extinguished,  now  shines;  to  its  light 
I  turn  my  eyes  to  receive  some  comfort,  while  I  turn  my 
back  on  the  above  calamitous  scene.  But  alas!  the 
darkness  in  which  the  despot  had  educated  the  subjects, 
makes  them  mistake  the  meteor  for  the  star,  and  the 
friends  of  despotism  profit  by  their  ignorance  and  the 
liberty  of  the  press,  to  augment  it. 

O  Frenchmen !  listen  to  the  counsels  of  ,a  child  of 
Nature,  whose  universal  sympathy  attracts  you  as  near 
to  him,  as  his  social  or  parental  connections.  Since 
you  have  leaped  to  the  pinnacle  of  absolute  liberty,  which 
should  be  approximated  only  by  the  aid  of  the  ladder  of 
wisdom  and  virtue,  you  must  either  conjure  those  qualities 
to  your  immediate  support,  or  descend  from  the  pinnacle 
to  meet  them. 

Virtue  demands  much  time  and  improved  education  to 
spread  into  habit,  which  gives  birth  to  confidence,  a 
quality,  without  which  no  nation  can  rise  on  the  pinnacle 
of  absolute  liberty,  or  perfect  democracv. 

7* 


78  THE    MORAL    STATE    OP    FRANCE. 

You  have  made  the  experiment  to  attain  liberty  with- 
out the  above-mentioned  ladder;  if  you  do  not  succeed, 
descend  upon  a  more  contracted  base,  to  found  the  con- 
stitution ;  and  there,  by  means  of  a  good  education  and 
free  press,  cultivate  wisdom  and  virtue,  and  let  your  ap- 
proach to  democracy,  or  perfect  government,  be  parallel 
to  their  increase. 

England,*  possessing  the  latent  powers  of  extensive 
thought,  demands  the  aid  of  a  great  country,  which  by  a 
reciprocal  freedom  of  Ihe  press,  may  find  a  steel  for  her 
flint,  from  whose  collision,  sparks  of  wisdom  may  be 
produced,  to  illumine  the  whole  world,  and  bring  man- 
kind to  a  state  of  intellectual  existence,  liberty  and  hap- 
piness, through  the  tranquil  and  only  medium  of  wisdom 
and  virtue. 

To  prove  that  liberty  cannot  exist,  or  be  established 
without  virtue  in  the  people,  look  to  the  Belgic  provin- 
ces, where  fanaticism  4ias  armed  the  people  against  her; 
look  to  Holland,  where  the  zeal  of  loyalty  to  the  House  ot 
Orange  has  done  the  same;  in  both  countries  the  liberty 
of  the  press  is  destroyed,  to  keep  the  moral  horizon  in 
a  state  of  darkness,  congenial  to  the  reign  of  despotism 
and  superstition.  Had  the  liberty  of  the  press  been  es- 
tablished under  the  new  forms  of  government  which  these 
countries  assumed,  I  should  then  have  applauded  a  wise 
and  cautious  constitution,  that  held  power  by  trust,  as  a 
guardian  of  the  subject  in  a  state  of  minority  or  igno- 
rance, with  intention  to  prepare  their  minds  for  their 
estate  of  liberty,  when  they  arrive  at  the  adult  age  of 
wisdom  an-d  virtue.  But  the  violation  of  the  liberty  of 
the  press,  proves  the  one  to  be  detestable  bigots,  and  the 
other  contemptible  slaves,  both  meriting  the  universal 
execration  of  mankind. 

When  I  contemplate  the  state  of  wisdom  and  virtue 
in  France,  I  feel  more  doubt  than  hope  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  perfect  association,  or  organization  of  society, 

*  A  country  reasoning  from  its  own  prejudices  and  habJts,  is  a 
flint  without  a  steel. 


ITS    PORTENTOUS    REVOLUTION,  79 

by  an  universal  representation.  Though  they  have  tri- 
umphed over  bigotry  and  slavery,  the  great  enemies  to 
reason  and  truth,  yet  there  is  such  an  aversion  in  the 
mind,  to  reflect  or  invert  its  faculties  of  thought  upon 
self,  from  which  operation  wisdom  and  virtue  can  alone 
be  produced,  that  I  predict  and  pronounce  it  .impossible 
for  that  country  to  establish  any  system  of  constitutions! 
government,  and  anarchy,  dreadful  anarchy,  will  bring  it  to 
its  only  repose,  in  the  tomb  of  despotism.  No  coiist.i  - 
tutional  form  can  be  built,  but  upon  the  basis  of  confi- 
dence, and  this  noble  affection  of  the  human  heart,  the 
result  of  wisdom  and  virtue,  is  almost  unknown  in 
France.  Hasten  then,  O  Frenchmen  !  to  learn  to  think ; 
for  he  who  knows  not  how  to  think,  knows  not  how  to 
live.  I  never  saw  a  Frenchman,  but  would  decide  in  a 
moment  upon  the  most  important  questions,  when  the 
deliberation  of  a  year  would  not  be  long  enough  for  a  re- 
flective mind  to  determine  truths  of  less  moment.  Ne- 
cessity may  demand  decision,  but  then  a  reflective  mind 
calls  that  action  necessary  and  true,  only  as  relative  to 
that  necessity ;  whereas  a  thoughtless  contracted  mind 
looks  upon  its  decisions  as  absolute  truths. 

I  wish  for  the  sake  of  human  nature,  interested  in  this 
important  revolution  of  France,  .that  virtue  and  wisdom 
may  be  as  rapid  in  their  progress,  as  the  necessity  of 
their  aid  is  urgent,  lest  liberty,  the  soul  of  Nature,  infec- 
ted by  the  morbid  humors  of  selfish  Ignorance,  may  be- 
come a  plague  more  dreadful  than  despotism,  to  destroy 
mankind.  Surrounding  nations  are  already  alarmed  at 
the  concussions  and  portentous  commotions  of  this 
country,  though  that  germ  of  Nature,  to  produce  perfec- 
tion in  the  moral  world,  is  guarded  as  an  enemy ;  and 
lest  it  should  spread  its  powerful  roots  into  their  do- 
mains, Despotism,  trembling,  draws  out  all  its  powers, 
and  Wisdom,  fettered,  testifies  her  doubts  and  interest 
in  the  cause  of  Liberty  and  Nature,  in  the  suppressed 
eloquence  of  deep-fetched  sighs,  as  the  gag  of  Pespotism 
checks  her  lamentations. 

I  rejoice  exceedingly  and  congratulate  in  ecstacy  this 


80  THE   MORAL  STATE   OP   NATIONS 

/ 

country  in  its  triumph  over  the  most  formidable  enemy 
of  humanity,  abhorred  and  cruel  priestcraft ;  and  this 
would  alone  compensate  all  the  evils  of  an  unsuccessful 
revolution ;  though  I  hope  that  liberty  will  give  birth  to 
virtue,  virtue  to  confidence,  and  confidence  to  good  go- 
vernment; for  twenty-five  millions  of  people  must  be 
organized  by  a  constitution,  which  demands  much  virtue 
and  confidence  for  its  basis ;  but  democracy  can  have  no 
repose  in  the  efficient  powers  of  contracted  delegation, 
till  the  dangerous  spirit  of  aristocracy  and  monarchy  is 
totally  abandoned  and  lost. 


ITALY. 

THOUGH  this  subdivision  of  Europe  contains  various 
states;  yet,  as  the  individual  inhabitants  differ  but  in 
fine  and  scarcely  perceptible  shades,  I  shall  speak  of 
them,  as  participating  of  the  same  general  character, 
and  nearly  the  same  nature  of  arbitrary  government, 
though  different  in  form. 

The  peculiar  constitution  of  the  mind  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  this  country,  furnishes  observation  with  a  num- 
ber of  curious  effects,  to  facilitate  a  knowledge  of  the 
human  intellect,  and  that  by  a  very  extraordinary  contrast 
of  strength  and  weakness.  The  imagination,  memory, 
and  judgment  of  the  natives  have  most  extensive  pow- 
ers ;  and  the  monument  that  attests  the  efforts  of  their 
combination,  to  produce  all  that  is  wonderful  in  the 
province  of  art — St.  Peter's  church  at  Rome,  the  won- 
der of  the  world,  at  the  same  time  furnishes  a  most  hu- 
miliating evidence  of  the  most  deplorable  ignorance  and 
folly,  by  the  Eucharistical  sacrifice  on  its  altar,  where 
the  Cause  .of  all  Nature  is  devoured  every  day,  in  the 
form  of  a  crust  of  bread,  by  its  creatures. 

It  is/here  that  human  reason  seems  to  preserve  order 


THE   INSANITY    OF   JEALOUSY.  81 

in  a  state  of  madness ;  here  the  best  blood  of  the  best 
hearts  is  wantonly  and  vainly  spilt  by  the  assassin's 
dagger.  Here  Insanity  commands  and  menaces  the  mild 
and  timorous  infant  Love,  and  says,  "  love  me,  or  I  will 
put  you  to  death!"  and  Jealousy,  with  a  thousand  dag- 
gers, heaps  piles  of  victims  at  the  feet  of  his  mistress, 
and  adding  the  horror  of  ferocity,  to  the  deformity  of 
person  and  turpitude  of  mind,  courts  in  this  array  the 
smiles  of  beauty,  the  consent  of  virtue,  and  affection  of 
love. 

While  the  male  monsters  pay  such  homage,  there  are 
female  monsters  to  receive  it;  nay  the  operations  are  in- 
verted, and  the  female  not  having  the  courage  to  wield 
the  dagger,  conceals  a  surer  vengeance  in  the  treacher- 
ous draught  of  liquid  death,  and  menaces  with  poison 
the  infant,  love,  upon  the  wing  of  flight  and  departure. 

But  does  this  connection  or  association,  the  effect  of 
vice  and  horror,  proceed  from  love?  No,  true  love  is  the 
affection  of  sympathy,  which  can  be  known  only  in  vir- 
tuous minds.  Pride,  ambition,  interest,  and  other  pas- 
sions may  tolerate  the  assassin,  as  a  lover,  and  induce 
hatred  to  put  on  the  mask  of  affection ;  but  he  can  never 
obtain  esteem.  Though  the  knight-errant  could,  by  con- 
tests of  blood,  gain  the  hand  of  a  mistress,  he  could 
never  expect,  to  detain  or  preserve  the  heart,  but  by  be- 
ing lovely  in  mind  and  person ;  for  the  moment  a  more 
lovely  or  congenial  object  presents  itself  to  the  mistress, 
daggers  and  bolts  may  keep  the  lover  at  a  distance,  but 
the  heart  will  fly  to  him,  and  leave  the  body  alone  to  be 
a  prey  to  the  brutal  lust  of  the  tyrant  possessor. 

The  mind  of  the  inhabitant  of  this  country  possesses 
all  the  technical  powers  of  intellect,  which  operate  out- 
wardly, to  procure  all  the  advantages  of  art,  and  all  the 
joys  of  invented  pleasures;  but  of  the  internal  operation, 
called  reflection,  which  creates  sympathy  and  probity, 
the  only  source  of  happiness,  it  is  totally  devoid. 

The  cause  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  their  education, 
which  here  in  common  with  every  nation  in  the  world., 


82  THE  MORAL    STATE   OP  ITALf. 

England  excepted,  burdens  the  memory  of  the  infant  and 
corrupts  the  heart  by  a  familiar  communication  of  age  to 
infancy,  of  all  the  chicane,  treachery  and  falsehood  trans- 
acted in  society,  of  which,  by  the  want  of  dignity  in 
man,  they  are  made  to  participate,  as  soon  as  their  fac- 
ulties are 'capable  to  render  them  useful  to  their  parents. 
Whoever  has  travelled  into  foreign  countries,  with  the 
least  observation,  must  have  remarked  this  social  famil- 
iarity between  men  and  children,  which  enables  the  lat- 
ter, at  the  age  of  ten,  to  have  more  worldly  knowledge 
than  a  youth  of  twenty  in  the  island  of  England.  The 
continental  child  is  acquainted  with  all  the  anecdotes  of 
its  family;  their  concerns  made  up  of  envy,  treachery, 
falsehood  and  selfishness  ;  while  the  English  youth,  if 
rich,  has  nothing  in  his  memory,  but  Latin  and  Greek, 
foot-ball  and  cricket ;  and  if  poor,  knows  only  the  tech- 
nical part  of  the  trade  to  which  he  has  been  brought  up ; 
and  the  only  communion  he  has  had  with  men  is,  to 
receive  from  them  moral  admonitions,  to  instil  into  him 
principles  of  rectitude  and  truth.  Thus  the  heart  and 
intellect  escape  being  corrupted  and  distorted ;  and  en- 
lightened Nature  contracts  not,  but  compresses  its  pow- 
ers into  the  narrow  and  necessitated  form  of  social  con- 
vention, and  disciplines  the  corps  of  society,  to  secure 
it  from  the  violence  of  those  unhappy  nations,  whom 
the  menaces  of  a  tyrant  unite,  to  reduce  others  to  their 
own  state  of  misery  and  slavery. 

O  nation !  favored  with  all  the  gifts  of  Nature,  change 
the  operation  of  your  superior  mental  faculties,  and  trans- 
fer them  from  their  outward,  to  an  inward  exercise, 
and  instead  of  animating  canvass  and  stone,  human- 
ize yourselves ;  call  into  exercise  the  anticipative  and 
reflective  powers  of  the  mind — the  pre-eminence  of 
man  over  beast.  It  is  the  faculty  of  mind,  called  reflec- 
tion, or  internal  operation  of  mental  faculties  upon  self, 
that  gives  a  consciousness  of  existence,  and  teaches  that 
wisdom,  which  procures  all  the  happiness  and  well-be- 
ing which  the  essence  of  man  is  capable  of  attaining. 

The  means  to  procure,  or  bend  back  your  faculties  to 


PERVERSION   OF  TALENT.  68 

this  inward  operation  is,  to  substitute  for  books  of  er- 
ror, those  of  philosophy,  which,  aided  by  the  liberty  of 
the  press,  would  destroy  the  infernal  demon  of  prejudice 
and  superstition,  that  keeps  his  foot  upon  the  dejected 
neck  of  reason,  and  like  the  dark  assassin  of  night, 
thrusts  his  angry  talons  into  its  mouth,  to  suppress 
speech,  and  stifle  the  operation  of  thought  and  intellect. 
The  moral  character  of  the  inhabitants  of  Italy  proves 
to  what  an  extent  the  internal  operations  of  the  mind 
and  its  technical  powers  may  arrive,  without  producing 
that  capacity  of  thought,  which  inverts  upon  self,  and 
gives  birth  to  wisdom.  An  Italian  will  employ  a  whole 
life  to  turn  a  stone  into  a  wonderful  resemblance  of  man  ; 
but  it  never  enters  his  imagination  to  employ  a  moment 
of  his  time  to  render  animated  intellectual  man.  There 
is  no  nation  in  the  world  who  have  so  much  aversion  to 
contemplation,  if  self  is  the  object;  a  strong  proof  that 
the  heart  must  be  very  corrupt,  and  home  very  unpleas- 
ant, since  they  fear  so  much  to  approach  it. 

In  England,  where  contemplation  is  familiar  to  almost 
every  mind,  industry  has  been  recommended  by  Mr. 
Hume,  miscalled  a  philosopher,  because  it  kept  man  from 
entering  into  himself.  This  dangerous  error  may  delay 
the  birth  of  Wisdom;  but  I  predict  with  confidence,  that 
this  island  will  be  honored  in  a  very  short  period  with 
that  event,  and  that  wisdom  will  be  nursed  by  that  tran- 
quillity which  the  moral  and  physical  situation  of  this 
country  affords  over  others  on  the  continent,  which  from 
their  contrasted  situation,  are  exposed  to  convulsions. 
This  nursling,  having  attained  the  size  and  vigor  of  adult 
age,  may  leave  its  home  and  possess  force  sufficient  to 
combat  its  enemies,  superstition  and  despotism,  in  the 
greater  field  of  humanity  upon  the  continent,  of  which, 
every  part  is  incompatible  with  the  education  of  wisdom 
while  in  its  infancy ;  For  this  must  be  entrusted  to  a 
thoughtful  and  insulated  nation,  whose  secure  situation 
permits  such  a  relaxed  state  of  policy,  as  leaves  thought 
and  its  promulgation  in  a  state  of  absolute  freedom. 


84  THE   MORAL   STATE    OF   NATIONS. 

This,  I  predict,  no  country  on  the  continent  will  be  ena- 
bled to  do,  till  wisdom  shall  have  triumphed  over  error, 
and  have  totally  changed  the  institutions  of  mankind ; 
for  it  is  impossible,  that  there  can  be  peace  or  happi- 
ness upon  the  earth,  while  the  ridiculous  chimera  of  the 
imagination  shall  be  the  source  of  sentiment,  which  is 
the  source  of  action. 

Conception  is  the  only  true  source  of  action  to  lead 
man  to  a  state  of  well-being  or  happiness.  The  only 
operation  of  wisdom  should  be  to  improve  and  enlarge 
that  capacity ;  and  till  that  is  effected,  ihe  moral  world 
will  continue  in  its  present  chaos,  till  some  centre  of  ac- 
tion is  determined,  about  which  humanity  may  revolve 
peaceably,  though  in  different  orbits.  This  centre,  the 
Apocalypse  of  Nature  will  show,  which  England,  I  hope, 
will  protect  and  promulgate ;  and  I  call  upon  all  intelli- 
gent minds,  in  every  part  of  the  world,  who  pant  for  ex- 
tension of  their  existence,  to  facilitate  the  means  and  co- 
operate for  the  end  proposed,  to  lead  mankind  to  a  state 
of  Intellectual  Existence  and  Enlightened  Nature. 


THE   MORAL    STATE    OF   NATIONS.  85 


SPAIN. 


THIS  country  possesses  many  moral  and  physical  ad- 
vantages— a  peninsular  locality,  which  facilitates  unity 
and  defence,  with  a  fertile  soil,  and  happy  climate — the 
mind  of  its  inhabitants  lively  and  active,  and  their  hearts 
uncorroded  by  multiplied  and  extravagant  desires.  This 
activity  of  thought  is  entirely  occupied  hy  the  pleasures 
of  love,  mixed  with  the  alloy  of  inhuman  jealousy,  and 
suppressed  by  the  prejudices  and  menaces  of  supersti- 
tion. The  heart  seems  guided  by  the  truth  of  instinct, 
to  suppress  the  extravagant  desires,  which  hurry  and  pre- 
cipitate other  nations  into  an  orbit  of  activity  and  indus- 
try, which  deprives  the  mind  of  the  calm  necessary  to 
contemplation,  the  medium  of  conscious  existence  and 
intellectual  happiness.  The  errors  and  terrors  of  super- 
stition, however,  keep  thought  from  reverting  to  its 
source,  and  commencing  that  internal  operation  which 
marks  the  epoch  of  regeneration  to  intellectual  existence, 
and  consequently  happiness. 

This  country  is  characterized  for  a  rebellious  audacity 
against  its  parent,  Nature,  by  seizing  her  sceptre,  and 
chaining  her  powerful  agent,  the  mind  of  man ;  and  like 
the  parental  assassin  of  the  human  embryo,  it  forces 
thought  to  a  sacrilegious  abortion,  and  deprives  man  of 
the  means  to  elevate  his  species  on  the  scale  of  animal 
existence. 

O  Spaniard  :  look  towards  those  countries  where  the 
glorious  sun  of  truth  and  liberty  shines  forth  ;  and  though 
some  lands  not  having  the  humidity  of  wisdom  and  vir- 
tue, have  been  burnt  up,  and  rendered  sterile  by  heat, 
prepare  your  soil  by  the  labor  of  education  and  study ; 
call  to  your  assistance  the  preceptors  of  those  countries, 
whose  improved  soil  cherished  and  imbibed  the  conge- 
nial rays,  and  brought  forth  the  fruit — happiness. 

8 


$6  THE    MORAL    STATE    OF    NATIONS. 


PORTUGAL. 

• 

THIS  country  possesses   the  physical   advantages  of 
soil  and  climate,  which  are  counterbalanced  by  a  danger- 
ous locality,  exposing  them  to  maritime  invasions.     It  is 
very  inferior  to  its  neighbor  in  moral  qualities.     The  mind 
possesses  a  great  deal  of  activity,  which  is  occupied  in 
the  enterprizes   of  commerce,   and   is  amused  and  sup- 
pressed by  the  errors  and  terrors  of  superstition.     The 
heart  is  swollen  with   multiplied  desires,    which  force  it 
into  an  orbit  of  activity,  the  velocity  of  whose  revolution 
presents  no  object  separate  or  perfect  to  the  eye  of  con- 
templation, and  debases  weak  minds  to  that  point  of  ex- 
istence,  connected   with   vegitative   matter.     Where  the 
faculties  of  the  mind  are  powerful,  as  in  England,  though 
a  superior  industry  forces  the  orb  of  existence  to  an  un- 
common velocity   y<:t   the   understanding  still  preserve  * 
ils  contemplation  vVtiich  will  ultimately  retard  il.scour.se, 
and   continue   it  in  that  slow   progressive  motion,  which 
f 'onus  the  point   where  contemplation  enables  thought  to 
revert  to  its  source,  and  produces  intellectual   existence 
and  perfect  happiness. 

In  the  moral  constitution  of  people  of  this  country, 
the  passions  have  a  dreadful  preponderance,  and  destroy 
all  sympathy  and  probity  ;  and  shame  or  pride,  the  source 
whence  their  neighbors  draw  a  small  proportion  of  these 
virtues,  is  unknown  to  the  Portuguese,  who  feel  as  much 
triumph  in  the  ingenuity  of  falsehood,  as  the  Spaniard 
would  feel  shame  and  apprehension  in  detection  ;  and  the 
characteristic  content  of  the  latter,  when  natural  wants 
are  satisfied,  may  be  contrasted  to  the  union  of  luxurious 
nud  natural  wants  of  the  former,  which  activity  serves  to 
nourish,  but  never  seems  to  satiate. 

When  the  desires  of  the  human  heart  acquire  strength 
and  number,  probity  becomes  an  embarrassment,  and 
must  be  thrown  oif,  that  they  may  acquire  rapidity  in 
their  course,  to  overtake  the  object  of  their  pursuit. 


THE    MORAL    STATE    OF    NATIONS.  87 

Of  this  truth,  both  the  existence  and  the  cause  are 
proved  by  a  comparative  view  of  the  two  nations,  Spain 
and  Portugal.  The  latter  forming,  as  it  were,  but  a 
broad  shore  to  the  ocean,  is  pervaded  in  ail  its  parts  by 
commerce,  which  always  brings  in  its  suite  avarice, 
falsehood  and  discontent ;  whereas  Spain,  from  its  situ- 
ation, has  its  interior  parts  unconnected  with  the  sea, 
and  uncorrupted  by  the  activity  of  commerce  and  its 
baneful  attendants;  and  hence  the  eulogium  of  the  pro- 
verb— "Divest  a  Spaniard  of  all  his  virtues  and  he  will 
form  a  good  Portuguese." 

This  country  seems,  however,  to  be  in  a  progress  of 
improvement,  and  the  maritime  situation  to  which  it  owes 
its  vices,  opens  to  it,  by  way  of  compensation,  the  means 
of  perfection. 

The  operations  of  the  great  agent  of  Nature,  the  hu- 
man mind,  in  various  countries,  is  communicated  to  these 
people,  and  this  all  the  rigor  of  the  most  damnable  ty- 
lanny  of  the  inquisition  cannot  prevent.  As  the  flint  in 
collision  with  the  steel,  educes  sparks  of  fire,  which, 
communicated  to  the  tinder,  thence  to  the  match,  and 
from  the  match  to  the  pile  of  wood,  extends  that  element, 
the  cause  of  life,  comfort  and  pleasure;  so  mind  in  col- 
lision with  mind,  elicits  its  sparks  of  light  or  thought, 
which  expressed  in  words,  transferred  to  the  paper,  and 
from  the  paper  to  the  press,  diffuses  wisdom,  the  intel- 
lectual element,  which  produces  that  consciousness  which 
alone  can  be  called  human  existence  and  happiness, 

In  the  approximation  of  the  moral  world  to  a  state  of 
perfection,  two  dangerous  and  difficult  passes  or  defiles 
present  themselves — Policy  [Politics]  and  Superstition. 
In  the  early  stages  of  the  world,  when  ignorance  was 
universal,  the  latter  defile,  thought  necessary  for  the  de- 
fence of  humanity,  was  strongly  guarded;  in  this  more 
enlightened  age,  the  garrison^  have  been  withdrawn  to 
augment  those  of  policy.  Spain  and  Portugal,  by  refus- 
ing to  follow  this  universal  example,  prove  their  inferior- 
ity in  intellect  to  the  rest  of  mankind;  and  show  at  thg 


88  ,     THE   MORAL    STATE    OF   NATIONS. 

same  time,  by  some  late  reforms  in  their  infernal  court 
of  inquisition,  how  impossible  it  is  to  resist  the  course 
of  Nature,  and  that  the  volition  of  man,  impregnated 
with  wisdom,  will  expand  in  proportion  as  that  quality  is 
influenced  by  the  heat  of  invention  and  investigation, 
caused  by  the  collision  of  thoughtful  enlightened  nations, 
and  explode,  like  confined  gunpowder,  till  it  has  reached 
the  plenitude  of  its  elasticity,  intellectual  existence, 
though  compressed  with  worlds  heaped  on  worlds  of 
policy  and  superstition. 

It  is  wise  in  ail  nations  to  watch  this  expansive  ten- 
dency of  the  mind,  and  to  move  in  a  reform  of  supersti- 
tion and  politics  parallel  to  its  force ;  for  all  sudden  and 
unequal  operation  of  reform  is  dangerous  innovation,  in- 
imical to  the  ultimate  state  of  man's  happiness,  and 
would  resemble  the  conduct  of  an  imprudent  nurse,  who, 
to  comply  with  the  child's  will,  relinquishes  the  leading- 
strings,  and  leaves  it  to  wander  in  ignorance,  to  the 
brink  of  a  precipice,  where  it  would  not  fail  to  meet  its 
destruction. 

But  it  is  at  the  same  time  very  unwise  to  resist  grad- 
ual reform,  which  promotes  a  tendency  of  the  mind  to 
expansion,  as  is  the  case  at  present  in  England,  where 
the  revenue  of  extensive  conquests,  and  appointments 
of  office  have  created  an  interest  in  the  legislative  body 
that  preponderates  against  the  interest  of  the  country; 
and  reform,  undiscriminated  from  innovation,  is  dreaded, 
and  the  current  is  left  to  swell,  till  by  accumulated  force, 
it  breaks  down  the  dikes,  and  inundates  and  devastates 
all  the  land. 


THE    MORAL    STATE    OF    NATIONS.  89 


SWITZERLAND. 


THIS  country  contains  a  variety  of  associations  or 
states,  but  their  moral  character  has  not  shades  sufficient- 
ly strong  to  require  a  separate  and  discriminating  rela- 
tion. That  noble  and  only  true  principle  of  all  govern- 
ment, that  every  citizen  must  consent  to  the  establish- 
ment of  laws,  which  he  is  obliged  to  obey,  is,  in  appear- 
ance only,  better  known  and  practised  here,  than  in  any 
other  part  of  the  world. 

The  democratic  states  nearest  perfection  in  this  coun- 
try, authorize  the  humiliating  destruction  of  sovereign, 
towns  and  subject  towns,  and  admit  an  anti-republican 
principle,  which  destroys,  degrades  and  confounds  all 
the  slates  of  this  country  under  the  general  term,  aris- 
tocracy. 

The  moral  constitution  of  these  people  is  formed  of 
good  intellects,  and  calm  passions  :  the  first  have  no 
great  energy  to  surpass  the  boundaries  of  human  institu- 
tions, nor  the  latter  to  urge  man  to  an  unhappy  course  ot 
activity.  They  seem  to  be  but  a  higher  order  of  animals, 
and  differ  from  the  woolly  inhabitants  of  the  same  moun- 
tains, only  as  the  one  bears,  and  the  other  shears  the 
fleece  from  the  back ;  or  wnence  comes  it,  that  a  people 
laying  in  the  lap,  and  hanging  on  the  nurturing  breast  of 
its  mother  Nature,  dares,  like  an  ungrateful  infant,  revolt, 
and  bite  the  benign  nipple  that  gives  it  aliment. 

This  allegory  I  shall  explain,  by  taking  a  view,  not"  of 
the  form,  but  the  administration  of  the  different  govern- 
ments. Policy,  here  demands  no  external  efforts  to 
maintain  tranquillity  at  home,  but  stretches  out  its  arm 
beyond  the  boundaries  of  its  own  country,  to  receive  the 
infamous  price  of  the  lives  of  fellow-citizens,  who  are 
sent  to  ambitious  empires,  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  demon 
of  despotism  and  slavery. 

Internal  policy  seems  to  have  no  other  exercise  but 


90  THE    MORAL    STATE    OF    NATIONS. 

the  administration  of  the  laws,  the  economy  of  which  is 
80  ill-contrived,  that  it  seems  rather  to  intend  the  sale 
than  the  impartial  distribution  of  justice.  This  provokes 
the  selfish  appetite  of  these  rustic  citizens,  and  depraves 
the  heart  which  would  otherwise  be  secure  by  1he  ab- 
sence of  luxury,  (that,  parent  of  all  vice  in  great  and 
powerful  empires;)  and  explains  and  justifies  the  unfa- 
vorable allegory  which  1  have  chosen  to  represent — the 
ivhole  of  that  country  ! 


GERMANY. 


I  AM  averse  to  that  detail  which  minds  fond  of  minu- 
tiae  may  require,  and  I  shall  endeavour  to  comprehend  un- 
der an  identical  character  the  various  inhabitants,  who, 
though  they  have  many  moral  differences,  yet  agree  in 
some  general  affections. 

This  agreement  I  discover  in  the  universal  tenacity 
to  established  order  and  custom  ;  insomuch  that  if  other 
nations  had  not  inundated  this  land  with  novel  ideas 
that  have  borne  down  their  prejudices  as  violent  torrents 
do  trees,  they  would  have  remained  in  the  barbarism  of 
their  Scythian  ancestors  to  this  present  day. 

The  mind  in  several  parts  of  this  country  seems  to 
be  emerging  from  its  state  of  apathy,  and  several  of  their 
authors  have  caught  the  (ire  of  foreign  genius,  which  will 
enliven  iheir  torpidity,  and  bring  them  to  mental  anima- 
tion. The  despotism  of  governors  and  priests  will  no 
doubt  labor  to  suppress  its  progress,  which  like  every 
other  opposition  to  truth,  is  as  a  feeble  dike  to  oppose 
z  torrent,  which  by  checking  the  course,  elevates  and  in- 
creases the  body  of  water,  till  augmenting,  it  forces  the 
feeble  boundary,  and  spreads  its  inundations  in  propor- 
tion to  the  elevation  of  the  opposing  dike. 


THE   MORAL   STATE    OF   NATIONS.  91 

The  locality  of  this  country  is  inauspicious  to  its  pro- 
gress in  moral  and  social  perfection.  It  is  the  bulwark 
of  Europe  against  eastern  barbarism;  and  as  it  is  a 
well-known  truth,  that  in  the  same  proportion  as  the  in- 
dividual gains  liberty,  the  state  loses  its  energy;  the  man 
of  Nature  is  confounded  in  reducing  this  great  theoretical 
truth  to  practice;  as  first  an  universal  centre  of  action  or 
morality  must  be  established  over  tbe  whole  world. 

The  Germans,  in  proportion  as  they  acquire  from  their 
neighbors,  the  light  of  wisdom  (or  in  other  words,  that 
internal  operation  of  the  intellectual  faculties,  by  which 
to  become  acquainted  with  ourselves,)  should  transmit 
it  to  the  Turks  by  books  and  civil  missions,  which 
should  be  substituted  for  religious  ones.  I  am  convin- 
ced, that  had  nations  taken  one  hundredth  part  of  the 
pains  to  render  mankind  wise,  which  they  have  done  to 
make  them  fools  or  madmen;  the  globe  would  be  at  this 
day  a  terrestrial  paradise,  and  the  fabulous  golden  age 
would  have  been  realized  at  the  epoch  of  1790. 

The  eastern  nations  are  better  prepared  to  receive 
great  natural  and  moral  truths  than  the  western.  They 
have  no  errors  to  unlearn;  they  have  no  books  to  confute. 
I  never  proposed  a  moral  truth  to  an  Asiatic,  who  did 
not  conceive  my  ideas,  and  form  similar  sentiments  to 
myself;  and  declare,  that  he  followed  the  absurd  customs 
of  his  fellow  citizens,  from  the  value  he  placed  on  their 
esteem  finding  it  necessary  to  his  own  happiness. 


92  THE    MORAL    STATE    OF   NATIONS. 

THE  UNITED   PROVINCES. 

[NOW  HOLLAND  AND  BELGIUM.] 


TLJE  Moral  character  of  this  nation  is  perfectly 
lar  to  the  German,  -with  the  difference  only,  that  the  lat- 
ter is  passive,  and  the  former  active.  Commerce,  thai 
arch-corruptor,  assuming  the  name  of  comforter,  has 
formed  these  people  to  display  the  concealed  passions  of 
the  German  character,  tenacity  of  custom,  called  preju- 
dice, and  avarice,  the  intoxication  of  selfish  love. 

These  people,  whose  avarice  has  rohbed  the  sea  of  its 
domain,  have  spread  abroad  upon-  its  surface,  to  establish 
colonies,  whose  detestable  avarice  has  gained  vigor  from 
being  transplanted,  and  is  called  forth  into  destructive  ac- 
tion from  circumstances  of  place  and  things.  Their  ad- 
ministration is  so  fraught  with  despotism,  cruelty  and 
avarice,  that  though  the  English  colonies  have,  like  them, 
usurped  territories  and  domain,  and  hold  them  with  a  vi- 
cious sceptre  ;  yet  in  a  comparative  view  with  the  Bata- 
vians,  they  are  guardian  angels,  as  the  latter  are  desola- 
ting devils.  The  English  who  rob  the  princes  of  the 
East  of  glory,  riches  and  dominion,  leave  them  as  a  con- 
solation, dignity,  luxury  an-i  liberty;  but  the  Batavians, 
when  they  seize  upon  dominion,  doom  the  possessor  to 
endless  punishment  and  slavery  ;  and  not  satisfied  with 
one  victim,  the  usurped  dominion,  administered  with  in- 
fernal avarice  and  cruelty,  gives  the  fate  of  a  victim  to 
every  unhappy  subject. 

In  the  West  Indies,  the  Batavians,  involved  in  the  guilt, 
common  to  nations,  of  converting  the  blood  of  their  Af- 
rican fellow-creatures  into  sugar,  coffee  and  tobacco,  have 
the  same  infernal  pre-eminence  and  avarice  ;  and  this 
passion  weeps,  whenever  repose  spreads  the  effusion  of 
feeble  joy  over  the  cheek  of  the  palpitating  and  succum- 
bing African. 


THE  RAPACITY  OF  AVARICE.  *w 

O  wisdom!  it  is  in  this  land,  that  the  all-devouring 
monster  avarice  has  fixed  its  throne,  and  appears  with  all 
its  deformity  through  the  flimsy  veil  of  commerce  and  in- 
dustry ;  O,  dart  thy  benign  rays  through  the  dark  clouds 
of  error,  formed  by  human  institutions — show  them  that 
they  are  in  pursuit  of  happiness  by  the  road  which  leads 
to  misery;  approach  them  with  that  temperate  light  that 
may  not  dazzle  their  weak  sight,  which  has  hitherto  been 
found  too  feeble  to  admit  even  those  milder  rays,  which 
have  been  received  with  efficacy  in  other  countries.  • 

Enlighten  their  minds  in  the  present  state^  of  a  con- 
founded policy,  and  let  them  not  fall  a  sacrifice  to  the 
treachery  of  a  despot,  and  the  ambition  of  a  perfidious 
ally,  who,  in  open  violation  of  the  rights  of  nations,  dares 
to  attempt,  (and  audaciously  avows  that  he  dares,)  the 
empire  of  the  sea,  the  free  domain  of  Nature.  Rescue 
them  from  the  chains  of  error  and  avarice,  and  place 
them  in  the  silken  bonds  of  sympathy  and  probity;  so 
shall  they  first  become  men,  and  then  citizens ;  and  tri- 
umphing over  the  demon,  discord,  who  with  its  scorpion 
goads  excites  to  civil  war,  they  may  repose  with  univer- 
sal union  in  the  arms  of  peace  and  liberty. 


DENMARK. 

The  country  on  this  side  of  the  Baltic,  agrees  with  the 
moral  description  of  Germany. 

NORWAY  possesses  a  character  differing  from  the 
rest  of  Europe  except  Sweden.  This  is  my  conjecture, 
corroborated  by  information.  Having  never  visited  that 
country,  I  shall  proceed  to  the  description  of  its  resem- 
blance*, where  I  have  travelled. 


THE    MORAL    STATE    OF    NATURE* 


SWEDEN. 


THIS  Country's  connection  with  Europe  is  interrupted 
by  the  Baltic  sea,  and  from  this  cause,  the  moral  charac- 
ter of  its  inhabitants  is  uncultivated. 

The  Swedes  have  not  that  animal  tenacity  to  customs, 
that  limited  contemplation,  and  that  sordid  avarice,  which 
are  the  prominent  features  in  the  character  of  their  Ger- 
man neighbors.  The  heart  is  agitated  with  a  greater  va- 
riety of  desires,  as  the  mind  is  filled  with  a  greater  vari- 
ety of  ideas,  which  is  caused  by  their  maritime  commu- 
nication with  other  nations;  and  this  variety  divides  im- 
pulse, and  deprives  energy  of  its  force,  so  that  the  Swed- 
ish character  has  no  prominent  feature. 

As  the  Swedes  live  mostly  an  agrestic  life,  and  their 
wants  are  for  the  most  part  supplied  by  the  labor  of  the 
earth,  their  probity  is  preserved  from  the  treachery  and 
falsehood  acquired  by  commerce  or  barter.  Sympathy 
or  virtue  (for  they  are  synonymous)  is  ever  found  where 
the  heart  is  unagitated  by  selfish  desires,  and  the  head 
uncorrupted  by  falsehood. 

Whenever  wisdom  descends  upon  this  land,  it  will 
meet  with  a  hearty  welcome,  and  make  a  more  rapid  pro- 
gress than  in  any  Country  upon  the  face  of  the  globe. 
The  mind  has  but  few  errors  to  unlearn,  and  the  heart  but 
feeble  passions  to  combat  ;  And  I  could  almost  form  a 
•wish,  that  wisdom  should  choose  this  country  to  estab- 
lish its  inceptive  empire.  For  woe  be  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  earth,  if  wisdom  should  be  defeated  in  her  first  on- 
set. and  the  tj-embling  despots  of  the  earth,  like  the  bru- 
tal and  cruet^Herocl,  who  destroyed  whole  generations  to 
sacrifice  a  suspected  rival,  should  deprive  her  of  herarms, 
the  liberty  of  the  press,  and  destroy  the  power  of  Nature 
in  its  moral  source.  The  communication  of  mind  or 
thought  being  cut  off,  men  would  remain  in  a  state  of 


*       /•  • 

'  '• 


THE    MORAL   STATE  OF    NATIONS.  95 

vicious  knowledge  and  enslaved  civilization,  and  retro- 
grade from  that  state,  to  which  wisdom,  if  triumphant, 
must  ultimately  conduct  them — the  state  of  enlightened 
Nature  and  happiness. 


RUSSIA. 


THIS  country  participates  of  the  European  and  thr 
Asiatic  characters,  and  derives  from  the  former  the  acti- 
vity and  factitious  wants,  which  its  extravagant  civiliza- 
tion introduces;  and  from  the  latter  all  the  treachery  and 
falsehood  which  arises  from  an  ignorant  selfishness,  as- 
suming the  character  of  self-love,  which  consequences 
prove  to  be  self-hatred. 

The  present  empress,  [Catharine  II.]  when  her  com- 
prehensive mind  is  employed  in  taking  a  general  view  of 
her  empire,  feels  her  pride  and  compassion  equally  affect- 
ed. While  the  latter  forces  her  to  weep  over  the  desti- 
ny of  millions  of  her  subjects,  existing  in  the  most  ab- 
ject slavery,  the  former  is  humiliated  by  the  degraded  rank 
of  nn  empress  over  a  herd  of  beasts. 

Happy  is  it  for  these  people,  that  the  glory  of  their 
sovereign  cannot  exist  till  the  subjects  are  elevated  to 
the  rank  and  rights  of  men.  But  there  is  a  formidable 
body  of  aristocratic  tyrants,  called  nobles,  (or  more  pro- 
perly ignobles,  as  possessing  a  greater  share  of  vice  and 
villainv.)  that  are  dangerous  enemies  to  both  those  events. 

The  empress  has  made  some  happyJaws  to  effect  these 
purposes,  ami  they  have  been  well  administered  only  by 
h^r-elf,  on  her  own  persona!  domain;  but  she  dares  not 
enforce  them  nationally*;  and  if  she  had  the  resolution, 
she  would  fmd  no  one  willing  or  capable  to  assist  her  io 
the  execution. 


96  THE   MORAL    STATE    OF   RUSSIA. 

The  arts  and  sciences  have  been  transplanted  into  this 
country  with  an  intent  to  correct  the  minds  of  the  people, 
the  source  and  basis  of  all  happy  government ;  and  their 
progress  forms  a  better  apology  for  Rousseau,  than  all  his 
letters,  to  justify  his  satire  on  the  arts  and  sciences. 

Astronomers,  botanists,  antiquarians,  mathematicians 
and  zoologists  have  arrived  to  instruct  the  wretch,  whose 
understanding  is  debilitated  and  whose  body  wounded  and 
ulcerated  with  the  galling  chains  of  the  most  cruel  tyran- 
ny. The  astronomer  presents  his  telescope  to  the  weep- 
ing eye  of  a  father,  deploring  the  loss  of  a  son,  sold  into 
captivity,  like  a  beast;  and  while  his  soul  demands,  "  O  ! 
where  is  the  lost  object  of  my  love,  and  support  of  my 
wretched  existence!" — answers  by  relating  where  to  find 
the  constellations  in  the  zodiac.  The  botanist  approach- 
es, and  while  the  Russian  peasant  groans  with  the  pangs 
of  hunger,  strows  flowers  upon  his  iron  couch,  and  an- 
swers his  demands  for  sustenance,  by  explaining  their 
virtues  to  relieve  disease.  The  antiquarian  directs  his 
attention  to  a  truncated  marble  column,  while  he  is  con- 
triving to  repair  his  ruined  and  deserted  cottage.  The 
mathematician  relates  to  him  the  Newtonian  calculation 
of  infinities,  while  he  is  contriving  to  number  and  divide 
th<:  loaf  of  black  bread,  to  furnish  a  twenty-four  hour's 
subsistence  to  himself  and  family  -  and  the  Zoologist  is 
teaching  him  to  preserve  the  bodies  of  beasts,  while  he  is 
studying  and  laboring  to  preserve  the  expiring  animation 
of  his  nakeci  and  famished  children. 

The  only  sciences  that  can  improve  this  country  are, 
philosophy  and  agriculture;  the  one  to  suppress  factitious, 
and  the  other  to  supply  real  wants.  The  sciences,  though 
they  give  exercise  and  energy  to  the  mental  faculties,  pro- 
pel the  mind  in  a  tangent  from  its  own  orbit ,  and  it  is 
philosophy  alone  which  attracts  that  force  back  to  its 
own  centre,  ;md  shows  mankind  that  the  first  and  most 
useful  of  all  study  is  man  arid  self. 


THE   MORAL  STATE   OP   NATIONS.  97 


POLAND. 


THIS  country  from  its  situation,  partakes  more  of  the 
European  than  the  Asiatic  character;  and  the  people 
have  less  treachery  than  the  Russians,  and  less  luxury 
than  the  Germans.  The  form  of  government,  a  mixture 
of  aristocracy  and  monarchy,  has  introduced  the  passion 
of  pride,  a  friend  to  virtue,  and  this  has  induced  the  no- 
bles to  treat  their  peasants  with  less  brutality  and  tyran- 
ny than  the  Russians. 

"  Literature,  more  cultivated  here  than  in  Russia,  gives 
the  Poles  more  knowledge,  and  opens  a  national  commu- 
nication, without  which  a  body  of  people  are  better  de- 
scribed by  herd  or  flock,  than  the  dignified  title  of  a  na- 
tion, which  Russia  by  no  means  merits.  This  commu- 
nication and  knowledge  is  every  day  increasing,  but  the 
impediment  to  its  extending  to  the  great  body  of  the  peo- 
ple is,  the  vice  of  drunkenness,  propagated  by  the  Jews, 
who  have  over-run  the  provinces,  and  act  as  pumps  in 
the  hands  of  the  nobles,  to  draw  from  the  spring  of  ex- 
hausting labor,  drops  of  perspired  blood,  that  coagulate 
into  gold,  and  form  the  revenue  of  the  Polish  lord. 

The  diet  of  this  country  holds  forth  to  mankind  a  dread- 
ful scene  of  the  conflict  of  private  and  public  good.  A 
spectator  might  imagine  himself  in  the  area  of  a  Roman 
amphitheatre  among  gladiators,  rather  than  citizens  dis- 
cussing the  general  interests  of  this  society.  The  vari- 
ous members  seem  to  have  no  common  centre ;  some 
move  in  the  attraction  of  the  king  ;  some  are  propelled 
by  the  corruption  of  foreign  gold  ;  others  agitated  by  fa- 
mily attachments  ;  and  every  one  revolving  on  the  axis  of 
unknown  self.  The  orbit  of  society  is  unknown,  and 
the  sharpest  scimitar  being  judged  the  best  reason,  the 
result  of  this  assembly,  while  it  marks  the  different 
epochs  of  increasing  misery,  gives  as  it  were,  a  despond- 
ent hope  from  the  extravagance  of  its  anarchy ! 

9 


98  THE   MORAL   STATE   OF   NATIONS. 


LAPLAND. 


THIS  country  is  situated  at  a  northern  extremity  of  the 
continent,  with  a  soil  so  steril,  that  moss  alone  vegetates, 
and  a  climate  so  rude,  that  the  circulation  of  the  human 
blood  is  stopped  by  its  rigorous  cold.  Here  Liberty,  ex- 
iled from  every  other  part  of  the  globe,  seems  to  have 
retired,  as  to  an  only  asylum.  Here,  after  a  reign  of 
whose  doubtful  term  history  makes  no  mention,  she  was 
assaulted  in  her  strong  fortress,  by  the  Russians,  Danes, 
and  Swedes,  led  on  by  haggard  avarice,  and  the  blind  hag 
her  associate,  superstition,  the  one  tempted  by  the  fur* 
of  beasts,  and  the  other  to  make  beasts  of  ignorant  men,, 
to  increase  her  domain  of  folly. 

Nature  led  on  the  troops  of  Liberty,  but  the  cunning: 
treachery  of  her  double-headed  foe  found  means  to  cor- 
rupt them,  and  under  the  veil  of  commerce,  for  furs,  ex- 
changed spirituous  liquor  :  this  inflamed  them  with  a  new 
passion,  which  destroyed  instinctive  wisdom  and  the 
sceptre  of  Liberty,  who  was  dethroned  not  without  a  ca- 
pitulation which  marked  an  honorable  defeat. 

The  troops  of  her  enemies,  priests  and  soldiers, 
poured  in  upon  Lapland  from  the  neighboring  states  of 
Russia,  Sweden  and  Denmark ;  but  it  was  agreed  that 
the  wars  of  avarice,  policy  and  ambition,  which  might 
be  waged  by  the  conquerors,  should  not  involve  the  con- 
quered. Nature  gained  a  glorious  triumph  over  policy ; 
and  the  Laplanders  though  deprived  of  liberty,  were  left 
in  the  consolatory  arms  of  peace. 

The  priests  marched  forward  to  establish  the  throne  of 
avarice  and  superstition  in  the  holy  sanctuary  of  virtue 
and  liberty.  Nature's  code,  which  is  comprised  in  one 
in  «r, — FORCE  NOT  YOUR  WILL  UPON  ANOTHER, — and 
wnich  was  instinctively  and  religiously  obeyed,  removed 
«•:  knowledge  of  vice  and  slavery. 


THE  MORAL  STATE  OP  LAPLAND.          99 

The  priests,  attended  by  soldiers  and  traders,  began 
tbeir  sacrilegious  mission ;  finding  the  laws  of  Nature 
most  sacredly  obeyed,  they  contrived  their  first  attack  up- 
on instinctive  wisdom,  and  by  the  aid  of  traders,  who  dis- 
persed their  spirituous  liquors,  caused  cessations  of  its 
power,  so  frequent  though  temporary,  that  the  Lapland- 
ers, assaulted  by  the  demon  of  fury  and  vengeance,  intro- 
duced by  intoxication,  fled,  from  the  rage  of  liberty  de 
generated  into  licentiousness,  to  the  arms  of  priestly  des- 
potism. 

The  transports  of  this  new,  but  vigorous  passion  led 
them  to  the  Christian  altar,  where  they  assented  to  and 
repeated  articles  of  theological  belief,  which  were  equal- 
ly impossible  to  their  comprehension  and  their  practice. 

The  priests  having  thus  established  their  power,  and 
that  of  the  prince  to  whom  they  belonged,  were  not  at  all 
anxious  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  the  conscience  of  their 
proselytes,  but  contented  themselves  with  collecting  a  re- 
venue upon  every  breach  of  Christian  rites;  for  they  knew 
well,  that  the  Laplanders  had  only  changed  their  form, 
but  not  belief  in  the  adoration  of  Nature,  and  that  they 
continued  their  ancient  practices  and  forms  when  private 
in  their  families;  but  these  offered  an  increasing  hope  to 
the  priest,  whose  revenue  was  augmented  when  he  detect- 
ed them. 

The  Laplanders,  who  were  living  in  a  state  of  instinc- 
tive, but  not  enlightened  Nature,  were  in  parental,  but  not 
political  society ;  for  the  mode  of  existence  in  that  coun- 
try opposes  association.  The  people  subsist  upon  their 
flociks  of  rein-deer,  and  the  face  of  the  earth  offers  but 
scanty  pasture  for  those  animals ;  so  that  every  family 
must  have  a  range  of  thirty  or  forty  miles  for  its  support, 
which  obliges  them  to  separate  from  others,  and  this  is 
the  only  part  of  the  globe  where  political  association  is 
unnecessary,  and  parental  is  contracted  and  subdivided. 
In  this  Nature  maintains  her  empire,  and  procures  well- 
being  and  happiness  to  its  creatures,  gratifying  and  satia- 
ting all  physical  desires  in  the  plenitude  of  liberty,  and 
instinctive  virtue,  which  teaches  aversion  to  force,  and 


100  THE   MORAL   STATE    OF  LAPLAND. 

gives  amiable  ingenuity  to  persuade,  and  thereby  assimi- 
late and  associate  the  will  of  a  fellow-creature  to  our 
own.  By  this  parental  association  the  distinction  of 
property,  the  cause  of  all  civilized  vice,  is  unknown,  and 
sympathy,  the  circle  and  centre  of  all  virtue,  and  the 
cause  of  all  happiness,  is  created  by  congenial  love. 

Civilization,  which  by  means  of  the  external  operation 
of  the  mind,  increases  the  desires  of  man,  and  discovers, 
though  not  in  the  same  proportion,  means  to  gratify  them, 
forced  this  asylum  of  Nature,  reigning  with  her  colleagues, 
liberty  and  virtue  ;  and  ever  mistaking  activity  for  happi- 
ness, ever  in  arms  and  rebellion  against  Nature,  it  usurp- 
ed her  lawful  sovereignty,  and  began  its  own  reign  of 
slavery  and  error. 

Churches  were -erected,  and  in  them  civilization  fixed 
her  throne.  The  Laplander  was  summoned  at  the  dis- 
tance of  several  hundred  miles,  to  quit  his  flocks,  de- 
fenceless, threatened  by  devouring  wolves,  and  wander- 
ing half-starved  from  the  pasture  to  which  they  demand- 
ed the  guidance  of  their  absent  pastor ;  to  leave  the  hap- 
py home  of  peace  and  innocence,  where  tradition  of  an- 
cient, and  narrative  of  modern  events,  accorded  to  the 
sounds  of  rustic  music,  and  the  measure  of  the  joyous 
dance  gave  to  the  mind  that  pleasing  emotion  which  so 
modifies  desire  and  content,  which,  together  with  physi- 
cal pleasures,  makes  up  the  whole  of  happiness.  From 
the  bounds  of  content,  the  Laplander  obeys  the  dread 
summons,  and  with  food  economized  from  the  pangs  of 
a  hungry  family,  he  arrives  at  the  altar. 

He  approaches  the  angry  priest,  and  with  this  food 
(cheeses  of  rein-deer)  deprecates  the  wrath  of  the  deity 
Civilization.  The  destructive  phenomenon  of  Nature 
that  he  formerly  feared  and  adored,  was  appeased  by  sup- 
plication and  resignation  ;  but  this  new  destructive,  and 
malignant  moral  phenomenon  demanded  the  means  of  life, 
as  a  recompense  for  destroying  it.  The  priest  receives 
and  appropriates  this  sacrifice,  and  in  return  puts  into  his 
mouth  blasphemies  against  Nature,  called  articles  of  faith; 


CIVILIZATION    AND   NATURE    CONTRASTED.          101 

reads  to  him  records  of  vice  and  cruelty,  called  holy  writ ; 
and  instructs  him  to  sacrifice  his  immediate  happiness, 
proceeding  from  sympathy  and  probity,  by  inculcating 
principles  of  avarice  tyranny  and  falsehood,  to  procure, 
by  way  of  consolation  for  the  loss  of  present,  an  illusive 
eternal  happiness. 

The  Laplander  having  made  his  offering,  is  sent  back, 
his  memory  loaded  with  frequent  and  zealous  injunctions 
to  return  with  expiatory  offerings,  to  atone  for  his  want 
of  belief  in,  or  comprehension  of  the  deity  Civilization. 
He  returns  to  his  disconsolate  and  half-famished  family, 
and  consoles  them  with  his  relations  how  he  has  appeas- 
ed the  present  wrath  of  the  demon,  which  might,  if  neg- 
lected, increase  into  a  fury  that  might  demand  their  lives 
as  a  sacrifice.  , 

The  priests  at  particular  periods  make  circuits  of  visi- 
tation, to  levy  fines  upon  those  Laplanders,  who  dare  fol- 
low the  rites  of  Nature  in  preference  to  the  painful  and 
incompatible  rites  of  civilization;  and  these  fines  are 
levied  upon  their  backs  and  bellies ;  the  raiment  being 
torn  from  the  one,  and  food  from  the  other,  because  two 
individuals,  whom  Nature  prompted  to  communicate  [mu- 
tual] happiness,  without  offending  a  third,  had  not  con- 
sulted the  priest,  to  know  whether  Nature  was  right  or 
wrong  in  composing  such  passions,  and  furnishing  means 
to  gratify  them,  discordant  with  civil  institutions  that 
must  be  adapted  to  moral  and  physical  circumstances. 

Their  child  is  also  taken  from  them  by  these  religious 
harpies,  under  the  pretext  of  instruction,  and  is  forced 
from  the  honorable  and  useful  occupation  of  pastor,  sup- 
porting his  aged  and  infirm  parents,  to  the  study  of  let- 
ters, as  useless  to  him,  as  they  have  been  hurtful  to  those 
who  teach  them ;  and  when  age  emancipates  him  from 
the  bondage  of  a  school,  he  returns  depraved  and  debili- 
tated to  a  life  of  Nature.  » 

O !  enemies  of  Nature,  and  therefore  enemies  of  Self, 
a  part  of  Nature,  what  apology  have  ye  to  offer  in  behali 
of  this  desolating  tyrant,  Civilization? — Is  it,  that  it  in- 
creases the  means  of  gratifying,  when  it  multiplies  the 


102  THE   MORAL   STATE  OP   NATIONS. 

number  of  your  passions  ?  It  does,  but  in  what  propor- 
tion ?  In  that  of  one  thousand  to  one  on  the  side  of  mise- 
ry or  wants.  Shut  up  then  this  box  of  Pandora,  or  if  it 
must  be  opened,  confine  it  to  your  own  countries,  and  de- 
file not,  with  your  impious  steps,  the  hallowed  asylum  of 
Nature,  the  residence  of  liberty,  virtue  and  happiness. 

In  this  holy  land,  let  the  man  of  Wisdom  ai^ne  ap- 
proach, whose  instructions  will  call  Nature  from  the  light 
of  instrntrt  to  the  intellectual  light  of  reason ;  who  will 
teach  them  with  oral  lessons,  and  make  every  man  a  book 
of  precept  and  example,  to  explain  that  succinct,  yet 
comprehensive  and  perfect  law  : 

FORCE     NOT     YOUR     WILL     UPON     OTHERS,     BUT     ASSO- 
CIATE THEIRS  TO  YOUR  OWN  BY  PERSUASION  ;  for  in  this 
code    of    Nature   is   contained   all  wisdom,  virtue  and 
happiness. 

The  man  of  wisdom  will  instruct  them  how  to  pre- 
serve life,  and  gratify  those  passions  which  render  it  de- 
sirable ;  he  will  teach  them  their  intimate  connection  with 
the  aggregate  mass  of  Nature,  to  promote  sympathy  and 
Jove  of  truth,  the  constituent  parts  of  virtue ;  he  will 
warn  them  against  all  assumptions  of  selfish  partialities 
in  property  or  power  ;  and  he  will  teach  them  the  inter- 
nal, and  not  external  use  of  the  mental  faculties,  which 
will  show  them,  that  to  be  able  to  love  yourself,  you 
must  first  know  yourself;  and  that  he  who  wouli  make 
himself  happy,  must  have  the  volition,  and  use  the  means 
to  render  happy  all  sensitive  Nature. 

The  man  of  wisdom  will  proceed  in  the  important  and 
glorious  enterprise  of  bringing  these  people  from  an  im- 
perfect to  a  perfect  state  of  Nature;  he  will  observe  and 
consider  the  actions  which  produce  pain,  and  those  which 
produce  pleasure  ;  he  will,  by  instruction  enforced  by  ex- 
ample, teach  them  to  avoid  the  one,  and  cultivate  the 
other;  and  instead  of  violating  natural  liberty,  by  com- 
manding and  forcing  the  will,  he  will,  by  arguments  of 
self-love,  induce  his  proselytes  to  form  volitions  consist- 
ent with  the  well-being  of  thrir  existence.  By  an  amia- 
ble intercourse,  founded  on  the  principles  of  love,  aiwi 


CIVILIZATION   AND   NATURE    CONTRASTED.  10$ 

not  terror,  which  superstition  invents,  he  will  be  regard- 
ed and  beloved,  and  will  gradually  draw  instinct  from  its 
brutal  state  to  its  high  rank  of  intellectuality,  where, 
operating  free  from  the  prejudices  of  corrupted  civiliza- 
tion, it  will  establish  that  happy  order  of  association, 
which  effects  and  secures  the  means  and  happiness  of 
existence  upon  the  basis  of  moral  and  absolute  liberty  ; 
and  by  the  union  of  mental  force  discover,  study  and  pro- 
mote wisdom,  the  cause  of  the  well-being  of  all  sensi- 
tive Nature. 

The  reflections  that  must  take  place  in  every  contem- 
plative mind,  upon  studying1  the  preceding  subject,  must 
be  very  exalted  and  extensive,  and  cannot  fail  to  force 
the  ascending  curve  of  intellect,  by  the  ponderanco  and 
momentum  of  their  pressure,  to  decline  upon  the  centre 
self,  and  to  penetrate  as  a  bomb-shell  into  the  wrih,  in 
the  ratio  of  its  weight  and  elevation. 

The  reflective  mind  will  draw  a  comparison  between 
the  state  of  civilization,  with  all  its  attendant  evils,  and 
a  state  of  Nature,  with  all  its  tranquillity  and  liberty. — 
To  aid  in  estimating  the  preference  of  either,  the  follow- 
ing illustration  is  submitted  : 

The  machine  man,  according  to  the  system  of  Nature, 
resembles  a  musical  instrument,  with  the  difference  only 
that  man  is  superior,  as  possessing  consciousness,  a  quaf- 
ity  of  whose  existence  we  are  certain,  though  we  know 
not  how  to  define  its  situation  or  cause.  The  melody 
and  perfection  of  the  instrument  .should  augment  in  an 
equal  ratio  with  the  consciousness. 

Civilization  may  represent  the  instrument  much  played 
upon,  and  producing  many  tunes,  though  few  in  melody; 
these,  however  they  may  increase  consciousness,  do  not 
improve  it;  for  that  is  produced  by  melody  alone. 

Nature  may  represent  the  instrument  playing  few  tunes, 
but  all  in  melody,  with  little  consciousness,  in  propor- 
tion to  the  small  number  of  tunes.  In  this  state,  as  no 
false  notes  of  discord  are  produced,  Nature  might  be  ea- 
sily taught  to  improve  in  melody  and  consciousness,  and 
the  instrument  would  be  brought  to  perfection  ;  whereas- 


104  THE   MORAL   STATE   OF   NATIONS. 

civilization  is  so  embarrassed  with  false  notes,  and  a  mul- 
tiplicity of  discordant  airs,  that  to  the  difficulty  of  learn- 
ing melody,  a  much  greater  is  added,  that  ol  unlearning 
discord. 

To  explain  this  allegory. — A  man  born  and  educa- 
ted iti  a  state  of  civilization,  who  had  unlearned  the  dis- 
cordant notes  of  refined  society,  might  communicate  to 
these  the  melodious  tunes  or  virtues  he  had  learned, 
which  would  not  fail  to  improve  the  melody  of  their  ex- 
istence; and  in  the  same  ratio  consciousness  would  im- 
prove into  intellectuality,  and  the  moment  the  ma- 
chine, or  instrument,  man,  should  arrive  at  perfection,  iri 
any  part  of  the  globe,  it  would  not  fail  to  spread  over  the 
whole;  for  truth  and  happiness  being  the  universal  pur- 
suit of  savage  and  of  civilized  man,  are  recognized  the 
moment  they  present  themselves  to  view. 

The  practice  of  mankind  to  teach  or  spread  improve- 
ment has  been  the  reverse  of  the  above.  Discordant  airs, 
mistaken  for  melody,  or  virtues  for  vices,  and  vices  for 
virtues,  have  been  communicated  by  priests  and  rulers, 
and  if  they  did  but  force  mankind  from  tranquillity  and 
content,  into  a  tempestuous  industry,  and  the  imagination 
to  predominate  over  instinct,  by  forming  factitious  wants, 
and  vain  desires,  they  were  satisfied  in  thus  extending  ci- 
vilization, without  doubting  of  its  quality,  or  inquiring 
whether  it  conveyed  happiness  or  misery. 

It  is  impossible  that  the  moral  operations  of  the  hu- 
man mind  can  be  well  directed,  or  flow  pure  till  the  source 
is  discovered  and  cleansed.  Men  have  been  employed, 
since  history  gives  us  any  knowledge  of  the  past,  to  clear 
the  river  of  humanity  at  its  mouth :  and  hence  the  cause 
of  so  much  dirt  and  misery,  which  accumulates  upon  the 
shores  of  society.  No  mortal  has  been  bold  or  wise 
enough  to  go  in  search  of  the  source,  being  appalled  by 
the  abuse  of  the  vulgar,  the  anathema  of  priests,  and  the 
tyranny  of  kings  ;  and  if  this  work,  without  executing  so 
important  an  enterprise,  should  have  the  simple  merit  of 
stimulating  some  powerful  mind  to  undertake  it,  the  au- 
thor will  be  amply  consoled  for  all  the  abuse  the  ignor- 


THE   MORAL  STATE    OF   NATIONS.  105 

ant  vulgar  may  bestow  on  him,  who  tears  from  their  fond 
caresses  the  child,  error,  to  substitute  a  more  amiable  in- 
fant, wisdom,  who,  while  he  may  demand  greater  atten- 
tion, will  abundantly  repay  them  with  happiness.  Priest- 
craft, the  nurse  of  the  child,  error,  will  gnash  her  teeth 
with  malice,  and  in  the  disappointment  of  avarice,  vent 
her  vindictive  anathemas,  which  will  be  proportionably 
impotent,  with  the  declining  power  of  despotism. 


TURKEY. 


THIS  country,  partly  in  Europe  and  partly  in  Asia, 
claims  all  the  identity  of  character  belonging  to  the  lat- 
ter; and  will  serve  as  a  very  clear  exemplar  to  demon- 
strate that  the  happiness  of  a  people  depends  on  its  vir- 
tue* and  not  on  its  government. 

This  government  is  arbitrary,  and  the  will  of  the  prince, 
as  in  all  other  despotic  states,  forms  the  law  ;  but  the 
subject  is  miserable  beyond  comparison.  He  is  robbed 
of  his  property,  and  deprived  of  his  life  by  the  officers  of 
state,  as.  European  subjects  are  by  robbers  on  the  high- 
way. Disputes  among  individuals  for  persons  or  pro- 
perty are  terminated  by  courts  of  justice,  who  basely  put 
their  decision  to  sale,  and  induce  both  parties  to  buy 
their  hopes  of  success  so  dear,  that  the  victory  is  of  no 
value.  Justice  is  become  so  contemptible,  that  individ- 
uals prefer  the  appeal  of  force  ;  and  the  dagger  often  de- 
crees a  more  equitable  sentence  than  the  judge. 

All  social  subordination  and  confidence  is  unknown, 
and  the  empire  is  united  only  by  its  name.  The  gover- 
nors of  provinces  attempt  no  general  acts  of  authority, 
but  exercise  them  upon  individuals  seperately,  whose  per- 
sons they  cruelly  seize  and  put  to  death,  and  by  appro- 


106  THr   PHILOSOPHY   OF   NECESSITY. 


priating  the  property,  purchase  favor  at  court,  at  the  ex- 
pense of  a  widow  and  many  orphan  children,  who  are 
left  to  the  cruel  and  lingering  death  of  famine.  These 
ignorant  and  selfish  people  are  roused  to  vengeance,  only 
when  a  bashaw  or  governor  dares  attack  them  in  a  body 
by  the  imposition  of  taxes  ;  they  then  rebel,  and  he  ne- 
ver fails  to  become  a  victim  to  their  resentment,  which 
suffers  the  wolf  to  carry  off  his  prey  one  by  one,  but  if 
he  dares  attack  the  whole  flock,  he  then  only  rouses  their 
destructive  fury. 

Nature,  ever  disposed  to  mix  some  sweet  in  the  bitter- 
est cup  of  life,  has  adapted  their  moral  character  to  sus- 
tain these  political  miseries.  They  possess  few  of  the 
physical  wants,  which  luxury  has  introduced  into  European 
states;  and  the  mind,  instead  of  being  agitated  with  im- 
patience, and  impelled  to  seek  a  remedy  for  its  sufferings, 
sinks  into  the  apathy  of  resignation,  and  moderating  the 
energy  of  private  action,  rests  on  the  general  motion  of 
Nature,  and  exclaims  —  Fate  so  ordains. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  all  matter,  however  organized 
or  modified,  is  subject  to  the  same  laws  of  Nature  ;  but 
as  man  can  never  know  her  ultimate  intentions,  he  will 
constantly  operate  to  produce  the  well-being  of  his  ex- 
istence, and  though  the  doctrine  of  necessity  must  soften 
the  pain  of  resignation,  under  irremediable  evils,  it  can 
never  stifle  hope,  or  suppress  action,  when  reason  points 
the  way  to  relief  and  happiness.  In  the  book  of  Fate, 
man  can  read  only  the  page  before  him,  and  hope  will  al- 
ways induce  him,  by  action,  to  turn  over  another  leaf, 
and  he  will  reasonably  expect  to  find  many  pages  of  well- 
being  before  he  comes  to  the  blank  one  of  destruction. 

This  wholesome  and  orthodox  belief  in  the  fixed  laws 
of  Nature  enables  the  Turk  to  submit  patiently  to  the 
evils  of  life,  and  to  modify  the  energy  without  ceasing  the 
efforts  and  changes  of  action. 

The  character  of  this  nation  possesses  no  shade  or 
gradation  of  contour  or  feature,  that  connects  it  with  the 
European  ;  and  though  in  their  dealings  with  Europeans, 
they  have  an  apparent  exactness  in  payment,  this  is  not 


EUROPE  AND  TURKEY  CONTRASTED       107 

the  result  of  principle,  but  of  fear;  for  the  European 
merchants,  through  the  influence  of  their  consuls  can 
force  the  payment,  if  refused,  and  this  the  Turks  well 
know.  They  have  no  rectitude  or  honesty  in  their  deal- 
ings with  the  native  merchants,  and  indeed,  the  practice 
of  honesty  under  a  government,  administered  as  in  Tur- 
key, would  bring  upon  its  author  the  imputation  of  folly, 
in  the  place  of  honor,  and  the  same  loss  and  inconven- 
ience as  would  accrue  from  the  practice  of  virtue  in  an 
association  with  thieves  and  robbers. 

Notwithstanding  the  unhappy  state  of  existence  to> 
which  ignorance  ever  reduces  mankind,  a  consolatory  re- 
flection offers  itself  to  check  the  pain  of  a  sympathetic 
mind,  upon  surveying  the  miseries  of  its  fellow-creatures, 
which  is,  that  the  Turkish  mind  is  not  enslaved  in  the 
irrefragable  chains  of  learned  and  interested  error,  which 
binds  down  the  European  mind  to  its  iron  bed,  like  a  ma- 
niac, whose  frantic  movements  to  procure  release  accele- 
rate destruction. 

The  ignorance  of  the  Turkish  mind  is  caused  by  the 
cloud  of  illusion  spread  by  the  ingenious  impostor  Ma- 
homed, which  the  least  dawn  of  light  would  disperse,  and 
one  star  of  truth  would  enlighten  the  whole  moral  atmo- 
sphere of  this  country.  But  the  European  atmosphere  is 
buried  under  the  most  palpable  darkness  of  learned  er- 
ror, and  in  order  to  condense  the  vapor  of  ignorance  that 
might  be  exhaled  by  the  heat  of  wisdom,  produced  by  the 
collision  of  human  thought,  there  are  laws  formed  to  de- 
stroy that  being,  whose  mind  might  produce  a  spark  of 
truth,  which,  like  electric  fire,  is  inextinguishable,  and 
must  pervade  all  Nature,  and  whose  light  would  serve  to 
show  the  darkness.  Then  mankind  would  attempt  in 
unison  to  dispel  it,  and  by  their  collective  force  would  ef- 
fect it,  and  restore  human  nature  to  liberty,  virtue,  truth 
and  happiness. 

O  hasten !  men  of  wisdom,  children  of  Nature,  to  as- 
sociation, and  send  missions  over  all  the  Eastern  world, 
and  you  will  make  more  proselytes  of  their  unfettered 


108  THE   MORAL   STATE  OP   NATIONS. 

minds  in  a  day,  to  the  religion  of  Nature,  than  the  mis- 
sions of  folly,  bigotry,  and  superstition  would  make  in 
ages,  to  the  metaphysical  mysteries  of  intellectual  idola- 
try, the  cause  of  desolation  and  misery. 


ARABIA. 


THIS  country,  comprehending  a  variety  of  nations,  as- 
similates and  identifies  the  moral  character  of  its  inha- 
bitants, in  relation  to  the  Asiatic  world,  by  the  passion 
of  avarice,  and  the  mental  quality  of  ingenuity,  which 
operate  to  produce  an  universal  spirit  of  commerce  ;  and 
though  the  Arabs  are  governed  by  various  forms  of  poli- 
cy, this  spirit  of  commerce  pervades  the  whole,  and  re- 
ceives more  or  less  energy  from  the  propinquity  or  dis- 
tance of  the  sea.  These  moral  qualities  protect  the  mind 
from  falling  into  the  abyss  of  bigotry  and  superstition,  in 
which  its  neighboring  nations  are  plunged,  and  the  force 
and  pre-eminence  of  their  ingenuity  is  proved  beyond  a 
doubt. 

There  is  a  tribe  of  wild  Arabs,  inhabiting  the  interior 
deserts  of  Arabia,  where  commerce  furnishing  but  a  con- 
tracted field  for  the  display  of  this  ingenuity,  it  has  oc- 
cupied its  activity  by  approaching  the  province  of  wis- 
dom, and  has  broken  down  the  cobweb  barrier  that  en- 
tangles savage  and  civilized  nations  in  one  common  net. 
They  have  swept  away  the  superstitious  inventions  of 
priestcraft,  as  enemies  to  truth  and  happiness,  and  adore 
the  incomprehensibility  of  Nature  in  contemplation,  but 
not  in  conception,  and  their  penetrating  ingenuity  is  too 
forcible  to  suffer  a  delusive  definition  and  description, 
and  marks  the  idea  by  a  simple  nomination  in  the  word 
God. 


THE   MORAL   STATE   OF   NATIONS.  109 

Here  then  is  a  country,  where  the  religion  of  Nature 
would  prosper,  and  the  first  mission  might  select  this  as 
the  centre  of  their  circle  of  enlightened  labors.  Here 
the  seed  would  find  a  congenial  soil,  and  spread  with  ra- 
pid progress,  as  in  the  surrounding  country,  error  lies  on 
the  surface,  the  earth  would  be  free,  and  the  roots  of  Na- 
ture would  spread  and  acquire  such  strength,  as  would 
defy  the  resistance  in  the  more  distant  soil  of  rooted  er- 
ror and  prejudice,  and  would  spread  its  branches  of  pro- 
tection and  happiness  over  all  mankind. 


PERSIA. 


i 

THIS  country  presents  a  dreadful  picture  of  the  dire  ef- 
,  feet  of  ignorant   self-love,  or  vice,    to  destroy  the   most 
•  advantageous  gifts  of  indulgent  Nature.     The  hnppiest 
;  climate  and  a  productive    soil    are   joined  to  great  moral 
!  blessings.     The   natives   of  this  country  possess  great 
force  of  mental    faculty:  their   genius   for  poetry  is   as 
powerful,  as  it  is  eminent  and  singular  among  the  nations 
of  the  East,  and  the  mind  has  not.  only  testified  its  force 
by  descriptive  ingenuity,    but  it    lias    pushed  back  the 
bounds  of  human   knowledge  upon  tin:  province  of  wis- 
dom, by  its  sentiments  ;  but  these,  (as  in  the   prince  of 
poets,  Pope,)  are  rather  meteors  of  truth,  that  dart  across 
the  imagination,   than  the   flame   of  wisdom,  in  concep- 
tion, which  presents  a  durable  and  effulgent  light,   and  by 
explanation  is  conveyed   to  enlighten  and  edify  the  be- 
holders. 

The  government  of  this  country,  if  the  bloody  con- 
tention of  usurpers,  who  occupy  it  iro  longer  than  the 
shouts  of  victory  are  heard  from  a  triumphant  army  can 
be  so  called,  is  beyond  all  that  history  has  recorded,  or 

10 


110  THE   MORAL   STATE   OF   NATIONS. 

imagination  conceived— cruel,  unjust,  unstable,  barba- 
rous and  desolatory.  The  tortures  inflicted  upon  defeat- 
ed rivals,  if  related,  would  unhumanize  a  sympathetic 
mind,  and  congeal  the  circulation  of  blood,  with  the  cold 
intensity  of  horror.  The  arbitrary  seizure  and  destruc- 
tion of  the  life  and  property  of  the  individual,  by  the 
mushroom  tyrants  of  Persia,  suppress  and  corrupt  all  mo- 
ral energy  and  affection,  and  the  mind  contracts  itself 
with  fear,  like  the  frighted  snail,  that  sacrifices  all  ad- 
vantages of  food  and  comfort  derived  from  its  expansion, 
and  confounded  by  its  excessive  terror,  dies  in  the  limits 
of  its  shell. 

With  all  the  physical  and  moral  mean?  of  happiness, 
this  country  is  immersed  in  misery,  O  hasten!  benig- 
nant, sympathetic  and  enlightened  children  of  Nature,  to 
disperse  at  least  one  spark  of  truth  by  means  of  books 
or  missions.  The  mind  of  the  inhabitant,  from  its  qual- 
ities, resembles  tinder  that  would  be  fired  by  the  smallest 
spark ;  and  as  the  productions  of  their  poets  form  the 
delight  and  instruction  of  all  Asia,  this  country  would 
be  a  luminary  to  the  whole  Eastern  hemisphere. 


THE   MORAL  STATE  OP  NATIONS.  Ill 

INDIA. 


THE  moral  qualities  that  may  serve  as  a  general  iden- 
tification of  this  extensive  country  are,  sloth,  cowardice 
and  falsehood,  which  characterize  its  various  and  numer- 
ous inhabitants,  though  diversified  by  a  multitude  of  re- 
ligions, and  subjugated  all  to  the  yoke  of  despotism. 

Religious  prejudices  have  a  strong  hold  upon  the  minds 
of  these  people  :  not  that,  the  memory  is  replete  with 
learned  error,  t>r  the  imagination  corrupted  with  a  perpet- 
ual contemplation  of  the  same  chimeras  ;  but  religious 
ceremonies  being  substituted  for  social  virtues,  the  man 
who  should  be  guilty  of  the  least  breach  of  the  former, 
though  he  might  observe  the  latter  with  more  than  hu- 
man perfection,  would  be  an  irredeemable  exile  from  soci- 
ety, and  be  reduced  to  a  state  of  wretchedness,  from 
which  nothing  but  death  could  relieve  him. 

The  sun  of  reason  must  shine  with  a  heat  emulating 
the  natural  sun  in  this  climate,  before  it  could  dispel  or 
exhale  such  tenacious  vapors  of  prejudice,  condensed  by 
custom,  and  preserved  by  terror. 

European  nations  profiting  by  the  divided  state  into 
which  superstition  reduces  its  votaries  in  this  unhappy 
land,  have,  by  means  of  commercial  associations,  let  loose 
the  monster  avarice  to  plunder  and  subdue  it. 

They  arrived  in  this  country  few  in  number ,  but  be- 
ing united  by  moral  confidence,  every  European  company 
of  a  few  men  became  a  giant,  that  trod  down  the  dis 
persed  natives  who  dared  hostilely  approach  his  steps  , 
and  as  this  confidence  was  the  result  of  superior  intelli- 
gence, the  English  nation,  who  possessed  of  all  Euro- 
peans the  most,  have  negotiated  themselves,  with  arms  in 
their  hands,  into  the  conquest  of  the  most  flourishing  part 
of  the  Indian  empire. 

The  victory  of  the  English  would  have  been  the  victo- 
ry of  humanity,  if  the  damnable  spirit  of  commerce  had 
not  directed  the  government  of  the  conquered  land. 


112  THE   MORAL   STATE   OF   INDIA. 

The  English,  ignorant  of  the  language,  customs  and 
tempers  of  the  natives,  found  it  impossible  to  govern  what 
had  required  but  little  art  to  conquer.  Empires  contain- 
ing the  lives,  properties  and  happiness  of  millions  of  hu- 
man beings  were  put  up  to  auction,  and  consigned  over 
to  the  highest  bidder,  who  was  sure  to  be  the  greatest  vil- 
lain ;  villany  being  the  only  means  of  amassing  riches  in 
that  country,  [and  in  every  other.] 

This  auction-inaugurated  emperor  called  a  renter,  took 
possession  of  his  purchased,  but  temporary  kingdom, 
which  he  so  rack-rented  and  tyrannized  over,  that  till  the 
end  of  his  reign,  or  term  of  tenure,  the  value  constantly 
diminished,  and  the  abdicating  emperor  left  beggared  sub- 
jects to  an  avaricious  and  tyrannical  successor ;  and  the 
crown  continued  always  in  an  auction  dynast ry,  marked 
by  those  infernal  passions. 

The  unfortunate  subjects  under  their  native  lords  had 
suffered  much  oppression,  yet.  their  complaints  were  heard, 
and  this  checked  the  avaricious  violence  they  were  often 
subject  to  from  the  collectors.  But  when  they  fell  under 
the  European  yoke,  the  hope  of  complaint  was  lost,  as 
the  communication  between  the  subject  and  sovereign 
was  intercepted  by  interpreters,  whose  interest  it  was  t«> 
perpetuate  the  ignorance  of  the  latter,  and  the  oppression 
of  the  former,  by  becoming  the  corrupted  agents  of  the 
renters  ;  and  as  the  ignorance  of  Europeans  in  the  lan- 
guages of  the  country  secured  them  from  detection,  their 
rapacity  and  corruption  knew  no  bounds  ;  and  it  is  a  po- 
litical problem,  difficult  to  solve — What  has  prevented 
the  total  devastation  of  that  country  under  the  system  of 
auction  sovereignty,  which  the  ignorance  of  Europeans 
made  necessary  ? 

Europeans  have,  indeed,  increased  in  knowledge  of  the 
languages,  customs  and  tempers  of  the  natives,  but  by  no 
means  in  the  ratio  that  the  corruption  of  interpreters  and 
agents  have  increased. 

The  employ  of  the  East  India  Company's  servants  in 
that  country,  is  an  impeachment  of  the  wisdom  and  vir- 
tue of  the  metropolitan  government.  The  inferior  grade 


EUROPEAN    OPPRESSION.  113 

of  servants,  called  writers,  are  confined  to  copying  let- 
ters and  bills  of  sale  in  the  different  offices  ;  when  they 
rise  to  the  office  of  factors,  they  are  made  deputies,  pay- 
masters, store-keepers.  &c.  &c.  ;  when  senior  and  junior 
merchants,  they  are  employed  in  subordinate  settlements 
to  record  and  execute  the  councils  of  interpreters ;  and 
when  they  are  called  to  the  government,  all  the  know- 
ledge they  possess  to  execute  the  important  trust  i's,  the 
knowledge  of  the  character  of  the  different  interpreters,  es- 
timated according  to  their  abilities  of  drawing  revenue 
from  an  exhausted  and  depopulated  country. 

Why  are  not  the  writers  sent  to  the  manufacturing  towns 
to  learn  the  state  of  the  investments,  to  relieve  the  poor 
weaver  from  an  oppression,  which  destroys  industry  in 
its  source,  and  is  the  cause  of  all  debasement  in  the  qual- 
ity, and  deficiency  in  the  quantity?  Why  are  they  not 
sent  into  the  country  to  learn  the  languages,  customs  and 
tempers  of  the  natives,  to  see  how  the  collection  of  the 
revenue  is  formed,  and  to  remove  the  baneful  hand  of 
oppression,  which  destroys  and  depopulates  the  farms  ? 
Why  are  they  not  appointed  collectors?  Is  it  that  this 
knowledge  might  impede  the  interest  of  the  superior 
agents,  and  that  the  mystery  of  making  Asiatic  fortunes 
might  be  exposed  ? 

The  pretext  for  not  following  the  above  system  is,  that 
the  humanity  and  liberality  of  Europeans  would  not  con- 
descend to  the  base  severity  used  by  native  agents  to  col- 
lect the  revenue,  and  that  there  would,  in  consequence, 
be  a  deficiency.  I  hope  there  would  ;  but  this  temporary 
deficiency  would  be  like  the  operation  of  the  flood-gate 
which  diminishes  the  current  watering  the  arable  lands, 
but  which  swells  the  pool  so  the  industry  of  the  labor- 
ers and  farmers  would  acquire  strength,  if  freed  from  the 
violent  oppression  of  a  cruel  exactor,  and  would  augment 
in  the  ratio  of  the  justice  and  humanity  of  an  honest  Eu- 
ropean collector.  To  this  also  may  be  added,  that  the 
rapacious  gains  of  a  native  collector  would  be  sacrificed 
for  the  happiness  of  millions  of  our  fellow  subjects ;  and 
should  a  proportion  of  the  public  revenue  be  also  sacri- 

10* 


114  THE    SUICIDAL   FOWER   OF   ENGLAND. 

ficed/I  hope  the  country  of  England  would  not  produce  a 
wretch  so  infamous,  as  not  to  rejoice  at  the  event. 

The  happiness  of  the  natives  placed  under  the  imme- 
diate government  of  Europeans,  would  so  conciliate  them 
to  their  protectors,  that  their  minds  would  attend  with 
respect  to  the  moral  instructions  that  might  be  proffered ; 
and  the  author  of  their  animal,  might  with  facility  make 
them  proselytes  to  intellectual  happiness,  by  the  light  of 
Keason  and  the  Religion  of  Nature. 

The  insatiable  appetite  of  the  monster  ambition  is 
most  cruelly  exemplified  in  the  conquest  of  India.  An 
island,  almost  in  its  physical  and  absolutely  in  its  moral 
antipodes,  forces  one  hundred  millions  of  people  to  sub- 
ject their  will  to  ten  millions,  who  can  only  take  from 
them  their  property,  but  grant  them  no  recompense  of 
civil  or  political  protection ;  and  I  think  it  demands  no 
spirit  of  prophecy  to  foretell,  that  if  some  happy  event 
tloes  not  break  off  this  unnatural  connection,  the  weight 
•of  this  conquest  will  sink  the  island  of  Great  Britain  in- 
to an  abyss  both  of  political  and  moral  misery. 

To  a  person  of  observation,  the  progress  of  this  event 
is  already  remarkable.  This  heterogeneous  mass  of  pow- 
•er  is  of  a  -dangerous  magnitude  to  be  entrusted  to  the  ex- 
ecutive authority,  and  it  can  be  placed  no  where  else 
•without  destroying  the  constitution,  and  suffering,  the  le- 
gislative authority  to  partake  of  the  executive. 

This  partition  is  already  begun,  and  co-operating  with 
the  riches  and  interest  procured  from  that  country  by  in- 
dividuals, has  introduced  a  mass  of  luxury  and  corruption 
into  the  kingdom;  which    alone  would   account  for  the 
'present  state  of  party,  where  vice  has  thrown  off  all  dis- 
simulation, and  has  formed  such  an  association  of  lead- 
ers, as  no  longer  than  twenty  years  ago  would   have  so 
scandalized  the  moral   principles  of  a  virtuous   people, 
that,  so  i'av  from  leading,  they  would  have  lost  by  their  as- 
sociation the  most  numerous  party  that  ever  was  formed.* 

*  In  some  eventual  ministerial  arrangements  of  the  late  fac- 
tion, it  is  said  that  the  incongruity  of  their  characters  with  ma- 
gistracy was  so  flagrant,  that  they  objected  to  themselves,  and 
virt»e  forced  shame  from  vice  itself. 


•  THE   MORAL   STATE  OF   ASIA.  113 

Who  could  ever  have  imagined,  that  the  characters 
proscribed  and  declared  incompatible  to  possess  the  rights 
of  citizens,  by  a  thoughtless  and  dissipated  nation,* 
should  be  elevated  to  the  sacred  office  of  supreme  ma- 
gistrate, by  a  thoughtful  and  virtuous  nation?  This  alone 
shows  a  progress  of  corruption,  that  nothing  could  have 
produced, but  some  sudden,  powerful  and  immediate  cause; 
and  that  is  evidently  the  conquest  of  India.  England, 
like  a  voracious  glutton,  becomes  morbid  with  its  insa- 
tiate appetite  for  power,  which  will  induce  a  premature 
and  painful  dissolution. 

*  The  National  Assembly  of  France  have  declared  insolvents 
incompetent  to  enjoy  the  rights  of  citizens. 


SOUTHERN  ASIA. 

COMPREHENDING 

MALACCA,  SIAM    PEGU, 

AND    VARIOUS    NEIGHBORING    ISLANDS. 

THIS  arbitrary  division  of  the  globe  I  am  induced  to 
form  from  the  prominent  feature,  which  marks  the  minds 
of  the  inhabitants  of  those  various  countries,  and  though 
living  under  different  climates,  customs  and  governments, 
unites  them  in  one  common  character.  These  are  the 
passions  of  play  and  vengeance;  and  they  produce  the 
political  phenomena  of  nations  of  rogues,  assassins  and 
monsters. 

These  nations  afford  instances  of  vice,  as  difficult  to 
conceive,  and  as  wonderful  as  the  mathematical  prob- 
lems of  infinity,  In  a  paroxysm  of  despair  they  draw 
the  dagger,  and  indiscriminately  destroy  all  they  meet 
either  friends  or  foes. 

This  despair  is  caused  by  their  losses  at  play,  which 
is  exercised  in  cock-fighting ;  all  that  is  dear  to  affection, 


116  THE   MORAL   STATE   OP  SOUTHERN  ASIA. 

and  productive  of  sympathy  in  savages — wives  and  chil- 
dren— become  the  stake  at  that  inhuman  sport,  which 
sinks  the  mind  to  a  state  of  inconceivable  depravity. 

We  know  the  effects  of  the  dangerous  vice  of  gaming 
in  civilized  countries ;  and  all  its  subjects  are  assimilated 
in  the  moral  character  of  these  above-mentioned  coun- 
tries. Whoever  attends  the  gaming  tables  in  Europe, 
will  see  the  duellist,  with  his  dagger  ready  to  plunge  into 
the  breast  pf  his  friend  ;  and  having  not  sold  his  family 
but  done  worse,  reduced  them  to  perish  by  distress  and 
want ;  if  he  finds  no  relief  by  the  death  of  his  friend, 
turns  at  last  his  vengeance  upon  himself. 

In  these  countries,  where  the  greatest  enemies  of  Na- 
ture are  to  be  found ;  her  doctrine  should  be  first  propa- 
gated. Their  language  is  easy,  and  their  conceptions 
lively,  and  as  they  have  no  bigotry,  there  is  every  reason 
to  hope  for  success  to  missions,  which  might  be  sent  to 
convert  these  most  dangerous  enemies  to  the  peace  and 
religion  of  Nature. 


THE   MORAL   STATE   OF   NATIONS.  117 


CHINA. 


NOT  having  travelled  into  this  country,  I  must  form  an 
opinion  of  this  extensive  and  populous  empire  from  the 
relations  of  historians  and  travellers.  This,  however,  is 
as  little  satisfactory  to  myself,  as  it  may  be  uninstructive 
to  the  public  ;  but  as  there  are  no  means  to  penetrate  in- 
to this  country,  all  entrance  being  refused  to  strangers,  I 
'must,  in  order  to  complete  my  moral  account  of  the  world, 
substitute  probability  for  the  certainty  with  which  I  have 
treated  of  those  countries  I  have  myself  travelled  into ; 
and  as  a  very  peculiar  habit  of  intimate  observation  of 
the  human  mind  has  enabled  me  to  give  a  just  calcule  of 
the  actions  which  I  have  seen,  I  flatter  myself,  that  I  shall 
present  a  probable,  though  conjectured  estimate  of  ac- 
tions seen  through  the  medium  of  the  narration  of  others. 

This  country  communicates  with  European  nations  by 
their  commerce  alone,  and  has  often  sacrificed  the  great 
advantages  it  holds  over  those  nations  who  trade  with  it, 
to  a  sanctimonious  observance  of  its  own  laws.  An  in- 
stance of  this  has  occurred  in  the  late  interruption  of  the 
Russian  commerce,  and  another  in  the  execution  of  an 
English  sailor,  in  Canton,  for  the  accidental  homicide  of 
a  Chinese ;  to  save  whom,  all  the  European  traders  uni- 
ted their  threats  and  promises,  but  to  no  effect.-  Their 
obstinacy  proved,  that  they  would  have  sacrificed  their 
trade,  if  the  alarmed  avarice  of  the  Europeans  had  not 
delivered  up  the  victim. 

This  conduct  of  the  sovereign  administration  will  ap- 
pear a  problem  difficult  to  solve,  if  we  take  a  view  of  the 
subordinate  administration  of  justice  and  policy,  which 
is  corrupt  and  selfish  in  the  extreme  ;  but  if  we  consider 
the  frequent  insurrections  in  China,  and  that  the  study  of 
the  government  is  to  subject,  and  not  benefit  the  individ- 
ual. All  acts  of  publicity  arc  directed  by  the  form  of 


118  fHE   MORAL   8TATK  OF   NATIONS. 

law,  that  idol,  behind  which  the  despot  skulks,  and 
which  imposes  upon  the  people,  decorated  in  the  robes  of 
sanctity,  when  it  appears  in  public ;  but  in  private  is  a 
corrupted  body  of  infamy  and  wickedness. 

The  morality  of  this  nation  is  formed  of  actions  total- 
ly indifferent  to  happiness,  such  as  domestic,  civil  and 
religious  ceremonies ;  and  the  mind  and  attention  is  so 
immersed  in  these  forms,  that  the  substance  of  virtue  is 
totally  unknown,  and  the  moral  discourses  preached  by 
the  magistrates  to  the  people,  are  mere  instructions  to 
defend  the  poor  from  the  rich,  by  means  of  crafty  pa- 
tience, recommended  to  the  former,  implying  (hereby,  that 
the  powers  of  policy  and  justice  are  but  illusive  pro- 
tection. 

The  external  operations  of  the  mind  in  this  country 
remove  from  the  circle  of  happiness  in  a  tangent,  being 
projected  by  the  difficulty  of  subsistence,  the  observance 
of  forms,  and  the  obscurity  of  language;  and  it  must  be 
removed  from  the  pressure  of  these  physical  evils,  before 
it  can  lose  that  projective  force,  and  return  upon  its  cen- 
tre, to  produce  that  internal  operation  which  can  alone 
procure  to  man  that  wisdom,  which  by  teaching  him  what 
he  is,  shows  him  what  he  may  be,  and  directs  him  m  the 
knowledge  and  well-being  of 'his  existence. 

The  moral  situation  of  this  country  is  owing  to  the 
obscurity  and  difficulty  of  its  language ;  it  will  be  a  long 
time  before  it  can  communicate  morally  with  the  rest  of 
the  world ;  and  as  it  was  the  first  to  be  civilized,  it  will 
be  the  last  enlightened. 


THE   MORAL    STATE    OF  ASIA.  119 


TARTARY 


IN  this  country  I  have  never  travelled  ;  but  having  been 
among  the  Turcomans,  a  nation  of  Tartars  inhabiting  the 
uncultivated  parts  of  Turkey,  I  conceive  the  analogy  of 
their  morals  to  be  close,  as  their  origin  is  the  same,  and 
this  opinion  has  been  corroborated  by  frequent  conversa- 
tions I  have  had  with  the  Tartars  themselves. 

They  are  all  pastors,  associated  in  different  tribes  un- 
der an  hereditary  chief,  and  wandering  about  the  country 
in  pursuit  of  pasture.  Their  cattle  supply  them  with 
abundant  food,  and  they  also  exchange  them  for  the  only 
luxury  they  know — dress.  They  possess  a  great  degree 
of  animal  happiness  ;  but  are  far  removed  from  that  state 
where  the  mind  expands  to  participate  of  intellectual  hap- 
piness or  consciousness,  the  sublimity  of  reason,  which 
elevates  man  as  much  above  his  species,  as  that  species 
elevates  him  above  the  brutes. 

Their  minds  might  however  easily  be  brought  to  this 
state  of  enlightened  Nature;  as  their  superstition  is  fixed 
on  a  feeble  basis,  it  might  easily  be  overturned,  and  the 
whole  fabric  of  their  errors,  which  consists  in  magic  and 
worshipping  idols,  might  be  destroyed  by  the  ligbtest 
breath  of  reason;  and  these  people,  whose  hearts  are 
uncorrupted  with  the  infinite  factitious  wants  of  civilized 
nations,  would  make  no  forcible  opposition  to  a  happy 
reformation  in  the  religion  of  Nature. 


120  THE   MORAL  STATE  OF   NATIONS. 


AFRICA. 

I 

To  describe  the  moral  state  of  Nature  in  this  country, 
this  one  observation  may  be  sufficient :  All  the  natives 
near  the  sea,  form  nations  of  pirates ;  and  all  the  inland 
inhabitants,  nations  of  robbers,  not  only  of  property,  but 
the  more  outrageous  violence  of  persons. 

What  a  heart  breaking  reflection  this  causes  in  a 
•child  of  Nature !  to  see  almost  a  fourth  part  of  human 
nature,  which  this  country  contains,  doomed  to  such  a 
state  of  misery,  that  if  the  rest  of  the  globe  had  arrived 
at  that  enlightened  state  of  sympathy  and  wisdom,  of 
which  man  is  capable,  the  contemplation  of  this  portion 
would  destroy  all  happiness.  One  half  suffering,  and  the 
other  half  sympathising  with  equal  pain. 

Civilized  nations,  for  want  of  being  enlightened,  are 
as  much  engaged  in  the  universal  rebellion  against  Na- 
ture, as  the  wretched  Africans,  whose  destruction,  in- 
stead of  being  checked,  is  augmented  and  encouraged  by 
the  avarice  of  these  civilized  rebels,  whose  political  en- 
terprizes  having  passed  the  Rubicon  of  Nature,  the  im- 
pending ruin  of  interest  makes  them  dread  to  return. — 
The  rebel  hosts  of  civilization  press  forward,  boldly 
trampling  upon  sympathy  and  probity,  ultimately  assault 
and  subdue  the  metropolis  of  Nature ;  and  there  subvert- 
ing her  throne  of  happiness,  will  reduce  humanity  to 
such  a  state  of  misery,  that  knowledge  and  sensibility, 
acquired  by  civilization,  will  become  a  curse,  and  there 
will  be  no  relief  to  their  sufferings,  till  the  mind  sjnks 
into  the  animal  repose  of  savage  ignorance. 

There  has  lately  been  established  in  England  an  asso- 
ciation to  discover  the  interior  parts  of  Africa,  to  aug- 
ment the  arts  and  sciences.  This  I  hope  will  prepare 
the  means  of  communication,  that  when  Europe  shall  be 
enlightened,  and  discover  human  nature  to  be  the  onl^y 


THE   MORAL   STATE   OF   NATIONS. 


121 


science  worthy  men  of  wisdom,  they  will  send  forth  their 
missions  to  quiet  these  ignorant  and  malignant  children 
of  Africa,  who,  in  common  with  civilized  nations  in  the 
universal  delirium  of  passion,  tear  one  another  to  pieces 
in  the  act  of  sucking  the  abundant  and  nourishing  breast 
of  their  common  and  indulgent  mother  Nature,  and  by 
their  impious  fratricidious  struggles,  tear  the  nipple,  and 
sacrilegiously  spill  the  universal  nourishment.  O  Na- 
ture! come  forth  in  thy  simple  and  un mysterious  revela- 
tion, and  display  thy  divinity,  which  requires  no  aid  of 
learning,  no  unusual  strength  of  mental  power  to  recog- 
nize. Thy  appearance  alone  would  subdue  all  mankind, 
by  means  of  thy  benevolent  caresses  of  sympathy  and 
probity,  which  are  thy  only  attributes,  and  subjection  to 
thy  empire  would  be  a  state  of  absolute  liberty  and  hap- 
piness. 


122  THE   MORAL   STATE   OF  NATIONS. 

AMERICA. 


To  describe  the  moral  state  of  Nature  in  this  country, 
we  must  divide  its  inhabitants  into  three  classes — colo- 
nists, slaves  and  natives. 

The  colonists  mark  their  different  origin  by  a  moral 
similitude  in  policy  and  customs  to  the  European  states 
from  which  they  emigrated,  and  agree  with  the  metropoli- 
tan character  in  all  its  more  prominent  features.  These 
various  moral  species,  however,  constitute  the  general 
genus  of  American  Colonists,  by  their  distinctive  trait— 
interestedness  or  selfishness. 

This  quality  is  inseparable  from  minds  agitated  with 
the  hopes  and  fears  arising  from  the  occupations  of  com- 
merce. Every  colonist  is  struggling  to  improve  his  pos- 
sessions, and  none,  or  very  few,  are  enjoying  the  life  of 
content  of  the  land-holders  in  Europe,  which  begets  dis- 
interestedness, or  at  least  checks  the  spirit  of  selfishness, 
and  forms  that  mass  of  virtue  which  enables  England  in 
particular  to  resist  the  dire  effects  of  luxury,  corruption 
and  conquest,  and  preserves  a  happy  administration  of  a 
happy  form  of  government  in  such  a  tempest  of  moral 
and  political  evils,  as  would  overwhelm  any  other  nation 
upon  the  face  of  the  globe. 

The  slaves  are  that  unfortunate  class  of  inhabitants, 
who,  robbed  of  the  rights  of  men  by  their  masters,  the 
European  colonists,  must  ever  remain  enemies  to  the 
states,  and  their  minds  being  retained  in  a  savage  state 
of  ignorance,  they  and  the  colonists  will  form  such  an 
heterogeneous  mass  of  people  in  this  land,  as  will  resist 
all  coalescence  into  union  and  association,  and  portends 
dreadful  evil  to  this  rising  continent,  or  new  world. 

The  native  who  approximates  in  his  mode  of  life  to  the 
state  of  enlightened  Nature,  where  liberty  is  law,  and  vir- 
tue is  love,  increases  the  leaven  and  ferment  cf  this  mass. 
When  man,  by  an  education  of  example  is  rendered  so 


THE  MORAL   STATE   OP   NATIONS.  123 

benevolent  that  he  associates  and  assimilates  his  will  to 
others,  instinctively  like  : the  brute  creation;  Coercion 
will  be  a  demon  unknown^  which  in  European  countries 
is  set  up  and  worshipped  as  an  idol,  to  whom  liberty, 
moral  and  political,  is  sacrificed  to  obtain  the  surety  of  a 
miserable  existence.  If  the  native  of  America  had  but 
a  ray  of  reason  sufficient  to  show  him  the  folly  and  wick- 
edness of  warring  with  his  neighboring  tribes  of  fellow 
Indians,  his  mode  of  association  would  have  charms  that 
would  attract  the  slaves  and  victims  of  civilization,  and 
all  Europe  would  fly  to  happiness  among  Indian  tribes, 
toying  away  a  life  of  liberty,  peace  and  love,  in  the  in- 
dulgent arms  of  their  coiifimon  mother,  Nature. 

These  dark  clouds  o£  heterogeneity,    in   the  mass  of 
population,  that  eclipse  ihe  rising  sun  of  American  em- 
pire, can  be  dispersed  only  by  the  religion    of  Nature, 
which,  if  universally  taught,  would  assimilate  and  incor- 
porate this  great  mass.  JThis  may  be  represented  by  the 
allegory  of  two  childrenptruggling  to  destroy  each  other, 
while  they  were  hanging!  each  upon  a  redundant  and  pro- 
tuberant breast  of  their  Bother  Nature,  tearing  the  nipple 
and  forcing  out  blood  to  mix  and  corrupt  the  spilled  and 
overflowing  milk  ;  Nature  repaying  these   injuries  with 
the  indulgent  caresses  of  a  fond    parent,  and  striving,  by 
wise    admonition,  to  appease   that   passion    of  interest 
which  fascinates  the  creature,  pursuing  misery  to  obtain 
happiness,  and  destruction   to  procure    salvation.     This 
figure,  painted  in  lively  and  just  colors,  should  be  worn 
about  the    neck    by  those,  whose  intellect  could  be  en- 
lightened only  through  the  sensual  sight ;  it  might  also, 
by  the  statuary,    be  chisseled  in  marble,  and  should  be 
erected  upon  the  ruins  of  those  monuments  of  falsehood, 
error  and  misery,  that  have  been  elevated  and  cemented 
by  the  bloody  sweat  of  the   laborious  part   of  mankind, 
whose  liberty,  virtue  and  happiness  are  sacrificed  in  them 
upon  the  altars   of  superstition,  by   the   baseness  and 
treachery  of  the  vilest,  though  most  elevated  part  of  the 
human  species — priests  and  princes. 


124  THE  MORAL   STATE  Or   NATIONS. 


CONCLUSION. 


HAVING  taken  a  general  view  of  the  state  of  virtue,  or 
sympathy  and  probity,  of  the  different  nations  of  the 
globe,  I  shall  now  draw  up  some  retrospective  and  con- 
clusive considerations,  to  prove  that  virtue,  and  not  form 
of  political  institutions,  is  the  real  source  of  national  as 
well  as  of  individual  happiness. 

Though  various  constituted  governments  have  snatched 
the  sceptre  from  the  hand  of  one  tyrant,  they  have  but 
effected  the  transposition  of  tyranny,  and  rendered  it 
more  incurable,  and  more  intolerable  in  the  hands  of  an 
oligarchy  or  aristocracy,  whom  riches  have  thrown  into 
the  bosom  of  luxury  and  debauchery,  where  sympathy  and 
probity  cannot  possibly  exist,  as  they  delight  only  in  the 
bosom  of  sobriety,  temperance  and  wisdom. 

England  and  America  are  the  only  countries  in  the 
world,  where  the  people  exercise  the  most  sacred  and 
fundamental  functions  of  all  authority,  the  administration 
of  civil  and  criminal  justice ;  and  they  are  singularly  em- 
inent in  the  candor  of  their  commercial  dealings.  Let  a 
purchaser  enter  a  store  in  these  countries,  and  though  he 
be  as  ignorant  of  the  commodity,  as  of  the  seller's  per- 
son, both  parties  deal  with  confidence,  and  neither  are  de- 
ceived. Let  him  enter  a  store  in  any  other  part  of  the 
world — Italy,  France  or  Germany  for  instance,  upon  the 
continent,  and  deal  with  simplicity  and  confidence,  the 
purchaser  would  be  as  basely  cheated,  as  if  he  had  dealt 
with  a  Jew  or  a  sharper.  The  discussion  or  commercial 
dialogue  used  in  a  shop  in  these  countries,  would  force 
the  pride  of  an  English  shop-keeper  to  turn  his  customer 
out  of  doors,  or  be  subject  to  the  humiliating  suspicions, 
that  he  is  an  arrant  knave.  This  practice  of  rectitude 
proves,  that  the  people  possess  that  virtue,  the  only  source 
and  basis  of  all  good  political  association,  and  the  mo- 


ABSTRACT  AND  PRACTICAL  TRUTH.       125 

inent  that  this  virtue  becomes  infected  by  luxury  and  de- 
bauchery, they  must  divest  themselves  of  all  their  liber- 
ty, and  establish  a  despot,  like  the  sentinel  or  watchman 
of  the  night,  to  protect  them  in  the  darkness  of  vice  and 
ignorance. 

In  the  present  moral  state  of  mankind,  practical  truth 
will  ever  cause  a  dangerous  variance  in  vhr.ir  opinions,  and 
is  to  be  counteracted  only  by  the  stability,  and  unity  .»f 
abstract  truth.  This,  therefore,  should  be  the  end  of  nil 
reflection  and  deliberation,  and  any  action  that  opposes  it 
should  be  entered  upon  with  extreme  regret,  as  the  eject 
of  deplorable,  necessity,  which  the  cultivation  of  truth 
wiil  gradually  annihilate. 

Mankind  should,  therefore,  enter  into  an  intellectual 
commerce,  to  improve  the  mind — to  supplant  that  which 
avarice  has  rapidly  extended  to  pamper  and  poison  the 
body ;  and  they  should  treat  thai  man  or  country  as  an 
enemy  to  the  divinity  of  Self  and  Nature,  who  should 
tyrannically  and  ignorantly  murder  the  embryo,  or  sacri- 
legiously spill  the  germ  of  intellect,  by  violating  the  liber- 
ty and  faculty  of  thought,  the  source  of  intellectual  life 
and  happiness,  the  comprehensive  divinity  of  Nature. 

To- [elucidate  this  subject,  1]  shall  relate  what  passed 
in  France  upon  the  important  motion  in  the  National  As- 
sembly, respecting  the  powers  of  making  peace  or  war. 
The  aristocratic  party  involving  their  personal  interests 
with  the  political  interests  of  the  nation,  maintained,  that 
national  energy  required  the  sovereign  to  be  invested  with 
those  rights.  The  democratic  party  contracting  abstract 
truth  to  the  standard  of  practical  truth,  influenced  by  the 
consideration  of  necessary  energy,  passed  a  decree,  by 
which  the  king  and  the  nation  divided  that,  power.  This, 
however,  was  effected  by  a  very  small  majority,  and  it  is 
said,  that  the  populace  of  Paris  were  waiting  with  tumul- 
tuous murmurs  of  discontent  and  threats,  at  the  door  of 
the  Assembly,  that  if  the  decree  which  passed,  had  not 
tallied  with  the  point  of  abstract  truth,  measured  by  their 
enthusiasm,  the  most  fatal  insurrection  would  have  en- 


126  ABSTRACT   AND   PRACTICAL   TRUTH. 

sued,  and  such  anarchy  must  have  prevailed,  as  would 
have  prepared  the  tomb  of  liberty,  and  the  triumph  of 
the  most  irrefragible  despotism.  Alas !  how  deplorable 
is  the  fate  of  humanity  !  how  weak  the  state  of  pervert- 
ed and  prejudiced  reason !  Man  is  induced  to  proscribe 
the  standard  of  practice,  and  exclaim — Stet  veritas,  mat 
mundus  ;  [(Abstract)  Truth  shall  stand,  though  the  World 
should  fall !] 

I  am  apprehensive  that  my  curious  readers  will  have 
been  much  disappointed,  that  I  have  neglected  the  policy, 
customs  and  manners,  together  with  the  natural  history 
of  countries ;  to  which  subjects  it  has  been  usual  for 
travellers  to  confine  their  observation  and  narrative.  If 
mankind  are  wretched  over  the  whole  face  of  the  globe, 
and  the  moral  chaos  is  universal,  what  avails  the  infor- 
mation that  marks  the  civil  and  physical  position  of  man  ! 
it  serves  but  to  increase  the  labyrinth  of  knowledge,  and 
augment  the  embarrassments  of  wisdom ! 


THE 

REVELATION 

OF 

NATURE: 

WHEREIN    THE 

SOURCE  OF  MORAL  MOTION 

IS    DISCLOSED 

AND   A   MO11AL     SYSTEM    ESTABLISHED,    THROUGH    THE    EVIDENCE 
AND    CONVICTION   OF  THE.   SK1NSES, 

TO    ELEVATE    MAN 


TO  INTELLECTUAL  EXISTENCE,  AND  AN  ENLIGHTENED  STATE 
OF  NATURE. 


"In  Error's  room.  This  holds  up  Nature's  Liulu, 
Keeps   wand'ring  Passion  on  the  line  of  Right ; 
Grasps  the  whole  worlds  of  Reason,  Life  and  Sense 
In  one  close  system  of  Benevolence." 


From  tliP  Fk-a  of  the  first  rising  of  the  Sun  of  Reason,  or  the  Publication  of 
the  Revelation  of  Nature,  in  the  \ear  of  retrospective  Astronomical 
Calculation  5(>00. 

London  :  Printed  for  J.  RIDGWA  Y,  York-street,  No.  1,  St  James'  Square  1790. 
(From  the  above  original  edition,  revised  and  re-printed,  1835.] 


PREFACE. 


WHAT  a  hallowed  and  important  crisis  is  that,  when  a 
glimpse  of  the  intellectual  or  moral  world  breaks  in  up- 
on the  mind — what  complicated  reflections  of  regret  and 
astonishment  arise,  while  it  strives  to  arrange  and  dis- 
close its  conceptions  and  ideas !  The  mind,  according  to 
history,  tradition  and  astronomical  calculation,  has  been 
operating  for  5000  years,  with  a  ratio  of  improvement 
equal  to  its  experience  in  knowledge,  and  yet  has  been 
so  confined  by  the  narrow  boundaries  of  the  animal  and 
physical  world,  that  the  existence  of  an  intellectual  world 
has  never  suggested  itself  even  to  the  imagination — 
What  an  inexplicable  problem !  Through  the  same  long 
epoch,  the  whole  power  of  the  mind  has  been  employed 
to  preserve  existence  by  means  that  renders  it  miserable. 
What  a  grievous  and  melancholy  reflection  ! 

'  How  shall  we  attempt  the  solution  of  this  problem — 
how  offer  consolation  to  afflicted  thought  ? 

"  Truth  is  dangerous  to  be  displayed." 

This  is  the  detestable  axiom  whose  exposed  falsehood 
will  produce  the  solution  of  the  problem,  and  the  conso- 
lation of  human  sorrows. 

The  vanity  of  erudition  and  the  cowardice  of  animal 
sensibility,  labor  to  propagate  this  false  doctrine. 

To  indolent  and  weak  minds  memory  is  made  the  sub- 


4  THI   REVELATION   OP  NATURE. 

statute  for  judgment,  and  the  facts  and  chronology  of  an- 
cient  history  become  its  criterion  for  the  present  conduct 
and  counsel  of  nations.  To  minds  of  great  animal  sen- 
sibility, and  little  judgment,  every  reformation  or  change 
portends  danger  and  destruction,  as  the  patient  racked 
and  tortured  with  the  disease  of  the  stone,  sees,  in  the 
relief  of  lithotomy,  all  the  horror  of  instantaneous 
death, 

Men  of  great  animal  knowledge  and  ingenuity,  in  a 
comparative  view  of  nations,  fear  the  progress  of  truth, 
lest  it  produce  wisdom  and  virtue  to  humanize  their  own 
country,  which  losing  in  consequence  its  ferocity,  would 
be  invaded  and  enslaved  by  the  vice  and  folly  of  their 
neighbors.  They  do  not  reflect  upon  the  irresistible  force 
of  truth,  which,  whenever  it  appears,  will  remain  fixed  as 
a  sun,  and  all  the  powers  of  error,  aided  by  art,  can  never 
force  it  below  the  moral  horizon,  though  they  may  cause 
occasional  fogs  and  mists,  to  interrupt,  like  passing 
clouds,  its  meridian  splendor.  Animal  sensibility  would 
find  an  asylum  in  its  congenial  rays,  which  could  not  fail 
to  bring  all  humanized  matter  into  the  happy  state  of  uni- 
versal sympathy,  and,  rising  above  the  horizon  of  human- 
ity, would  mark  the  aurora  of  intellectual  existence,' or 
well-being  of  all  sensitive  Nature. 

All  mankind  are  agreed  in  their  lamentations  for  the 
miseries  of  human  nature,  and  all  do,  or  must  agree,  that 
the  only  remedy  is  to  be  found  in  the  intellectual  facul- 
ties of  man.  Under  what  diabolical  fascination,  or  spell 
of  the  demon  Error,  must  he  act,  who  consents  to  chain 
those  faculties,  lest  their  operations  should  produce  the 
increase  instead  of  the  remedy  of  those  miseries. 


THE   IMPORTANCE   OF    TRUTH.  5 

In  the  primitive  state  of  society,  men  removed  many- 
physical  ills  by  the  power  of  intellect ;  and  those  ills 
which  may  be  called  moral,  or  ignorant  institutions,  skull 
they  be  perpetuated  by  prohibiting  the  use  of  intellect  or 
exposition  of  thought,  at  the  very  time  humanity  stands 
in  most  need  of  it.  ?  It  may  be  the  interest  of  priests 
and  kings  to  maintain  such  a  doctrine,  to  persuade  men, 
•  like  the  sheep,  to  suffer  the  aggregation  of  the  fold ;  but 
when,  b^  the  increase  of  intellect,  arising  from  the  free 
communication  of  thought,  they  shall  find  that  the  acci- 
dental evil  of  the  wolves  is  to  be  preferred  to  the  con- 
firmed treachery  and  tyranny  of  shepherds,  who,  for 
their  own  personal  advantage  tear  oif  their  fleeces,  arid 
perpetuate  their  miserable  existence  ;  Humanity  will 
then,  with  one  common  consent,  burst  from  the  chains  of 
error,  and  hail  the  glorious  dawn  of  the  sun  of  truth, 
bringing  the  first  day  of  light  to  intellectual  existence, 
and  the  first  day  of  happiness  to  all  sensitive  Nature. 

For  any  defect  or  inelegance  of  style  in  the  following 
pages,  I  myself  possess,  and  offer  also  to  my  readers, 
this  consolatory  reflection  ; 

Error  will  be  divested  of  all  the  power  of  her  insidi- 
ous blandishments  of  eloquence  ;  and  TRUTH  will  be  dis- 
played in  all  the  beauty  of  her  nakedness. 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  incomprehensible  cause  of  motion  having  hitherto 
been  adored  by  mankind,  under  the  personification  of  a, 
deity,  with  attributes  suited  to  the  imagination  of  the  vo- 
taries, it  is  no  wonder  that  more  than  nineteen  twentieths 
of  animate  matter,  or  the  brute  creation,  has  been  sacri- 
ficed to  the  cruelty,  and  the  caprice  of  mankind,  who 
created  the  deity  and  his  laws  for  the  protection  of  their 
particular  species  alone. 

The  Apocalypse  of  Nature,  which  testifies  and  expo- 
ses the  intimate  connection  and  relation  of  all  matter, 
must  necessarily  destroy  this  partial  demon,  and  his  more 
partial  laws,  and  substitute  in  his  place,  a  power  thatde^ 
mands  no  personification  ;  and  this  is  the  effect  of  mo- 
tion, or  its  instrument  of  operation,  the  VOLITION  OF 
MAN,  which  is  the  source  of  all  [moral]  good  and  evil. 

This  then  is  the  true  and  comprehensible  power,  which 
demands  no  adoration,  but  only  the  study  and  attention 
of  mankind  to  bring  it  into  operation,  which  may  be  ef- 
fected by  extending  the  force  of  the  intellectual  faculties. 
The  means  to  produce  this  first  of  all  intelligible  causes, 
must  be  by  association ;  for  as  by  the  increase  of  num- 
ber of  bodies,  greater  physical  powers  are  acquired ;  SQ 
also  is  intellectual  momentum  increased  by  collective 
minds ;  so  that  if  an  union  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  this 
globe  was  procured,  the  increase  of  corporeal  and  of 
mental  strength  would  be  parallel. 

Such  an  union  of  the  mental  powers,  produced  by  the 
free  communication  and  intercourse  of  thought  of  all 
mankind,  would  form  such  a  perfect  intelligence,  or  pri- 
mary cause  to  direct  a  wise  and  universal  volition,  as 
would  bring  the  moral  world  from  its  chaos  to  order  and 
system,  by  exposing  to  every  individual  the  knowledge  of 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

Self,  and  its  connection  with  Nature.  Man  would  then 
exist  in  all  the  plenitude  of  his  essence,  connecting  him- 
self with  all  sensitive  matter.  He  would  stop  the  vibra- 
tions of  violence  upon  the  great  chain  of  nature,  and  the 
moulds  of  animation  would  be  perfectionated  to  commu- 
nicate happiness  to  the  universal  inter -revolution  of  mat- 
ter ;  and  though  the  chain  of  Nature  might  be  agitated 
from  time  to  time,  by  opposition  to  the  offensive  volition 
of  destructive  animals,  as  ignorant  men,  beasts  of  prey, 
and  venemous  reptiles ;  yet  its  vibration  would  subside 
when  the  cause  was  removed,  and  sympathy  would  re- 
sume its  power  to  eternize  the  tranquillity  and  happiness 
Of  all  sensitive  Nature. 

The  adoration  of  the  effect  of  moral  motion  in  voli- 
tion, or  self  in  system,  should  be  formed  by  the  example 
of  the  Guebers,  or  worshippers  of  the  Sun,  who  contem- 
plated its  effects  alone,  and  direct  its  congenial  rays  to 
the  purposes  of  subsistence,  and  comforts  of  life.  So 
shotald  the  children  of  Nature  direct  the  congenial  emo- 
tions of  the  volition,  or  self,  in  system,  to  procure  a  hap- 
piness to  all  sensitive  Nature,  the  only  adoration  a  pure 
and  perfect  intelligence  can  admit  of.  Were  the  Guebers 
to  neglect  the  effect,  and  reason  only  upon  the  cause  or 
essence  of  the  sun,  the  physical  world  would  be  affected 
with  the  same  disorders  that  the  moral  world  is  now  sub- 
ject to,  from  the  preposterous  employment  of  thought 
about  the  cause,  and  not  the  effect,  of  intelligence- 


THE 

APOCALYPSE 
[OR    REVELATION] 

OF 

NATURE. 

MATTER. 

ALL  things  that  make  an  impression  upon  the  sense? 
of  animated  matter,  contain  in  themselves  a  power  or 
propensity  to  motion,  which  power  is  augmented  or  va- 
ried by  the  different  combinations  of  bodies. 

Matter,  which  in  its  dissolution,  separates,  can  never 
be  annihilated,  and  though  it  may  disperse  into  an  infini- 
ty of  small  particles,  which,  making  no  impression  upon 
the  gross  organs  of  sense,  may  disappear,  yet  must  con- 
tinue to  be  in  the  great  mass  of  existence  ;  to  which,  as 
it  is  impossible  to  suppose  a  beginning,  it  is  also  impos- 
sible to  suppose  an  end,  and  it  may,  therefore,  be  called 
eternal. 

Matter  is  sufficiently  defined  to  all  the  purposes  of 
useful  intelligence,  by  the  word  substance. 

Motion  is  that  substance  in  action. 

Volition  is  the.  inceptive  motion  of  the  moral  world, 
and  the  direction  of  this,  in  a  right  line  to  happiness,  or 
well-being,  is  the  only  operation  upon  which  the  intel- 
lectual powers  ought  to  be  employed.  Secondary  causes 
and  effects  should  alone  be  investigated,  and  primary  or 
connection  abandoned.  We  know  that  desire  is  the 
motive  cause  of  pleasure,  which  effect  is  also  the  object  of 


10         THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

desire;  but  the  connection  between  them  .can  never  be 
known ;  and  as  it  is  the  effect  alone  which  brings  any 
Utility,  the  augmentation  and  improvement  of  its  causes 
alone  merit  attention. 

The  operation  of  the  intellectual  powers  is  to  be  gui- 
ded and  governed  by  utility,  till  it  has  discovered  the  line 
or  orbit  of  happiness  :  then  speculation  and  abstraction 
may  be  indulged  in,  as  if  unsuccessful  in  discovery  they 
will  be  useful  in  amusement ;  whereas  at  present  they 
serve  but  to  confound  the  mental  faculty,  and  embarrass 
it  in  the  search  of  the  right  line  to  happiness. 

How  vain  are  the  researches  of  the  finely-constituted 
faculties  in  the  discovery  of  the  well-being  of  animated 
matter,    if  the  errant   powers  of  some  minds   labor  to 
prove  its  non-existence,  whose  soph'iNtieal  reasonings,  like 
the  destructive  eye  of  the  basilisk,  dazzles  the  fear-con- 
founded faculties  of  the  self-devoted  bird.     I  have  exa- 
mined the  syllogisms  of  these  sophists,  that  seem  to  have 
confounded  all  philosophers,  and  they  appear  to  me  such 
impertinent  vagaries  of  the  verbal  ingenuity  of  man,  that 
they  form  a  deplorable  evidence    of  the  distance  of  the 
human  mind  from  its  intellectual  acme.     The  mind   ar- 
rived at  this  state  possesses  full  power  to  procure  hap- 
piness to  its  essence,  and  all  abstraction   beyond  that 
point,  proves  its  weakness  by  its  impertinence. 

MOTION 

Is  the  force  or  soul  of  matter,  and  cause  of  all  action ; 
fits  source  is]  impenetrable  to  all  human  knowledge. 

The  noblest  production  of  motion  is  the  animation  of 
matter,  which  it  combines  into  an  organization  capable  of 
much  action;  the  long  continuance  of  which  uses  the 
machine,  and  dissolves  it  into  its  primary  state,  from 
which  it.  again  returns  into  animation,  and  forms  an  eter- 
nal revolution  of  combination  and  dissolution. 

The  most  complicated  animal  machine  is  that  called 


THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE.          11 


MAN. 

THIS  machine  is  formed  of  particles  of  matter,  organ- 
ized so  as  to  resemble  a  corded  instrument  of  music  of 
five  strings  which  correspond  with  the  five  senses. 
The  intellectual  faculties  hold  the  bow  and  play,  and  the 
passions  form  the  stops  upon  the  handle  of  the  instru- 
ment, and  if  just  tones  are  produced,  simultaneously  or 
successively,  tin  ir  harmony  or  melody  forms  what  is 
called  an  agreeable  tune  or  air,  or  well-being  and  happi- 
ness, of  which  man  himself  possesses  consciousness, 
and  iu  this  power  he  is  superior  to,  and  differs  from  the 
inanimate,  instrument. 

The  inceptive  power  of  motion  can  no  more  be  ac- 
counted for  in  the  animal,  than  in  any  other  part  of  mat- 
ter ;  nor  should  the  discovery  at  all  interest  the  mind, 
being  obviously  impossible. 

The  volition  or  operation  of  the  intellectual  faculties 
to  pioeure  tliis  agreeable  air,  or  well-being  of  its  essence, 
is  ;ill  to  at  merits  the  concern  of  a  well-organized  man. 

Thf.;  i.nittial  man  is  a  subject  that  demands  the  whole 
attention  and  capacity  of  intellect,  to  investigate,  not  the 
origin,  but  means  and  end  of  his  existence.  On  his  ac- 
tion  or  motion  depends  the  well-being  of  all  animate  and 
inanimate  matter.  We  have  proved  that  animals  are 
duels,  or  canals  of  identity,  to  receive  matter  in  its  eter- 
nal revolution.  The  connection  or  communion  of  mat- 
ter with  matter  is  seen  by  the  constant  transmutation  of  it 
in  alir.ient,  dissolved  and  digested  by  animated  bodies; 
which  bodies,  decomposed  and  absorbed  by  the  elements, 
return  to  vegetation  and  animation,  and  continue  this 
change,  (not  ileath,)  of  existence,  to  all  eternity. 

Death  or  change  of  existence  is  the  dissolution  of  iden- 
tity, which  is  but  the  tune  of  the  instrument,  and  has  no 
connection  with  Nature,  which  is  formed  by  matter  alone. 
How  this  is  formed  we  know  as  little  of,  as  of  the  con- 
nection between  fire  and  heat ;  but  we  have  an  instinc- 

12* 


12         THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

tive  and  conscious  testimony,  that  we  are  immortal  parts 
of  the  great  integer — Nature ;  that  we  have  existed  from, 
and  shall  continue  to  exist  to  all  eternity,  though  our 
identities  have  been  interrupted  by  the  weakness  of  re- 
miniscence, or  changed  by  decay  or  death. 

A  weak  mind,  that  attaches  itself  to  identity  alone,  may 
not  be  able  to  conceive  its  eternal  connection  with  Na- 
ture, but  I  defy  a  mind,  that  has  arrived  at  the  acme  of 
intellect  and  considers  the  indestructibility  of  matter  to 
separate  itself  from  its  eternal  integer,  though  it  can  have 
no  knowledge  of  the  mode  of  connection.* 

The  utility  of  this  doctrine  is  indisputable,  as  it  shows 
us  that  we  shall  participate,  in  present  and  future,  of  all 
the  evil  that  our  vice  or  violence  may  bring  upon  the  great 
mass  of  Nature,  in  the  same  manner,  that  the  sobriety 
or  intemperance  of  youth  prepares  a  healthy  or  disor- 
dered old  age,  and  that  no  clemency  of  an  imaginary 
power  or  deity,  can  relieve  us  from  the  present  or  future 
consequences  of  our  own  actions. 

Such  a  religion  or  doctrine  would  not  fail,  if  universal- 
ly taught,  to  render  all  mankind  wise,  virtuous  and  hap- 
py. The  tyrant  would  tremble  at  the  cruelty  he  prepares 
for  another  identity — the  violent  or  vicious  man  would 
cease  to  perpetuate  his  brutality,  lest  his  succeeding  iden- 
tity be  animated  to  a  world  of  misery;  and  the  brute 
creation  would  be  entitled  to  more  humanity  than  our 
own  species,  lest  their  dumbness  might  conceal  the  pain 
which  man  inflicts,  and  lest  he  in  future,  assuming  the 
identity  of  a  brute,  might  suffer  that  pain,  his  inhumani- 
ty had  caused  and  perpetuated. 

The  absurd  and  cruel  institutions  of  society  tyrannize 
over  Nature,  by  multiplying  the  wants  and  classes  of  hu- 
manity, by  substituting  power  to  peace,  labor  to  repose, 
riches  to  happiness.  Original  violence  having  destroyed 

*  The  river  that  is  lost  in  the  ocean,  though  its  identity  is  no 
more,  does  not  cease  to  exist,  but  undergoes  all  the  agitations 
and  evaporations  of  the  sea,  and  returns  into  rivers  again ;  and  thus 
k  is  with  the  connection  of  man  and  Nature. 


THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE.          13 

truth  in  its  abstract,  or  in  the  great  circle  and  system ; 
mankind,  by  operating  in  a  contracted  system  of  relative 
truth,  perpetuate  misery  for  their  present  and  future  iden- 
tities. 

When  the  human  capacity  shall  arrive  at  intellectual 
existence,  and  conceive  intuitively  the  sacred  doctrine  of 
the  unity  and  eternity  of  all  Nature,  the  whole  moral  eco- 
nomy of  humanity  will  be  changed — the  system  of  Na- 
ture will  be  known — self  will  be  discovered — happiness 
will  be  studied — and  man,  in  the  plenitude  of  intellectu- 
al existence,  will  be  brought  to  a  state  of  enlightened 
^ature,  or  absolute  liberty  directed  and  controlled  by  a 
wise  volition,  to  obtain  the  end  of  well-being  to  self  and 
fellow-selves,  or  all  sensitive  creatures. 

THE    VOLITION 

OR  will  is  produced  both  by  physical  and  by  moral 
causes  ;  it  is  first  examined  by  the  Judgment,  and  in  pro- 
portion as  it  is,  or  is  not,  thereby  influenced,  it  effects  an 
harmonious  or  a  discordant  tune. 

The  volition  of  man  may  be  regarded  as  the  source  ot 
moral  motion,  and  takes  its  birth  from  out  ward  or  in  ward 
impression.  This  affection  in  man,  unaccompanied  by 
wisdom,  is  often  dangerous  to  his  well-being,  and  is  very 
inferior  to  that  of  brutes,  which  instinct  directs  in  a  right 
line  to  their  well-being.  Hence  the  origin  of  coercion, 
to  restrain  the  volition  which  would  have  answered  all 
the  end  of  wisdom,  had  not  mankind,  from  an  increase  of 
population,  seperated  into  several  societies,  each  of  which 
became,  as  it  were,  an  individual,  with  its  own  unwise 
volition.  Different  associations  having  no  coertion  to 
restrain  them,  waged  war  on  each  other,  and  their  vio- 
lence or  evil  volition  unrestrained,  forced  mankind  into 
the  asylum  of  civilization,  where  they  met  coertion,  a 
monster  who  devoured  their  liberty  and  happiness,  in  or- 
der to  assure  to  them  their  miserable  existence. 

In  proportion  as  wisdom  augments  or  advances,  coer- 


14          THE  REVELATION  OP  NATURE. 

tion  must  diminish  or  recede,  and  this  is  exemplified  in 
the  present,  state  of  different  nations ;  those  possess  most 
liberty  who  possess  most  wisdom.  The  latter  must  al- 
ways precede;  for  should  the  former  dare  to  assume  the 
precedence,  it  changes  into  licentiousness,  and  wisdom 
flies  from  its  society,  and  to  preserve  existence,  coertion 
must  be  called  in,  though  to  that  demon,  happiness  is  sa- 
crificed upon  the  altar  of  despotism. 

THE    JUDGMENT 

Is  the  power  of  the  mental  qualities^  to  assort,  to  re- 
late, to  compare  the  ideas  presented  to  it,  to  draw  there- 
from just  inferences  or  deductions,  and  to  direct  and  pre- 
serve the  volition  in  a  strait  line  to  truth. 

It  is  the  great  moral  excellence  of  the  machine  called 
man ;  and  if  this  machine  is  so  organized  as  to  allow 
the  perfect  operation  of  judgment,  it  must,  when  played 
upon,  ever  produce  a  melodious  air. 

Other  machines  that  are  less  perfectly  organized,  and 
where  this  faculty  may  be  wanting,  are  still  capable  of 
performing  the  same  melody,  but  then  they  must  follow 
the  example  of  the  first,  which  answers  to  the  leader  of 
the  band,  and  they  may  acquire  the  habit  of  playing  well, 
though  they  do  not  in  so  eminent  a  degree  feel  the  con- 
sciousness, or  know  the  cause  of  the  melodious  tune, 
which  they  produce  by  imitation,  as  the  leader  does  by 
invention,  by  which  it  must  receive  a  greater  proportion 
of  pleasure. 

The  faculty  of  judgment  is  the  sovereign  of  the  mental 
powers,  and  places  its  throne  in  the  mind,  holding  a  most 
despotic  empire  over  the  volition,  whose  residence  is 
[figuratively  said  to  be]  in  the  heart.  This  it  must  treat 
with  uncommon  severity;  for  upon  the  least  indulgence 
it  rebels,  and  drives  judgment  from  its  throne,  and  eveii 
when  it  assumes  an  abject  posture  of  supplication  to  wait 
with  resignation  the  sovereign  decree,  its  treachery  must 
still  be  suspected,  and  it  must  not  be  suffered  to  approai-.li 


THE   INSIDIOUSNESS   OP  VANITY.  15 

even  the  steps  of  the  throne ;  nay,  with  all  these  precau- 
tions, it  has  been  known  to  menace  its  sovereign,  and  in- 
fluence decrees,  which  judgment  imagined  were  of  pure 
motive.  It  often  employs  an  officious  emissary,  named 
vanity,  who  whispers  in  the  ear  of  judgment  to  obtain  a 
partial  decree  for  volition  concealed  behind  its  flowing 
robes.  In  short,  judgment  can  never  be  secure  till  it  has 
elevated  its  throne  to  a  pinnacle,  where  the  whispers  of 
the  emissary,  and  the  supplications  of  volition,  can  never 
reach. 

If  we  attend  to  the  polemical  writings  of  mis-name<3 
philosophers,  and  the  conversation  of  modern  disputants, 
we  shall  be  sensible  on  what  a  low  and  humble  throne 
judgment  is  seated,  and  what  power  the  emissary,  vanity, 
possesses ;  for  their  disputes  tend  not  to  form,  but  only 
to  support  an  opinion ;  and  with  them  truth  and  triumph 
are  synonimous.  If  we  would  demonstrate  by  observa- 
tion the  power  of  volition  over  judgment,  we  might  no- 
tice the  clubs  in  St.  James'  street,  and  the  conduct  of 
some  august  personages,  who  resemble  and  equal  in  their 
great  powers  and  excellence  of  intelligence,  reflection  and 
anticipation,  the  Caribbee  Indians,  who  play  for  their 
beds  in  the  morning,  and  cry  for  them  at  night,  as  do  the 
former  for  their  estates. 

Having,  by  this  allegory,  shown  the  powers  and  pro- 
perties of  the  animal  machine,  Man,  I  shall  proceed  tc* 
investigate  his  essence  and  end  of  existence ;  and  first 
of  his  ESSENCE. 


16  THE   REVELATION   OF  NATURE 


ESSENCE. 

WE  find  in  that  combination  of  matter,  called  man, 
two  powers,  one  passive,  and  the  other  active.  The  first 
is  the  corporeal  power,  formed  of  the  visible  and  tangible 
parts,  called  body :  the  other  is  the  result  of  the  organi- 
zation of  that  body,  forming  the  power  vulgarly  called 
soul.  The  body,  by  its  organs  of  sense,  as  eyes,  ears, 
nose,  palate,  and  various  members,  communicates  with 
the  soul,  and  conveys  to  it  that  intelligence,  which  the 
soul  administers  in  procuring  well-being  to  the  body,  and 
constantly  directs  it  to  the  objects  of  pleasure,  and  warns 
it  against  those  of  pain.  Where  these  component  parts 
are  perfect,  the  machine  is  moved  in  a  right  line  to  well- 
being,  unless  interrupted  by  some  extraneous  power  over 
which  it  has  no  control. 

The  corporeal  part  of  this  machine  is,  as  it  were  a  ca 
nal  or  duct,  to  receive  extraneous  matter,  and  to  commu- 
nicate to  it  in  its  momentary  passage  the  pleasure  of  con- 
sciousness or  existence;  for  the  foreign  matter  incorpo- 
rates every  moment  in  the  machine,  by  respiration  and 
aliment,  and  passes  with  such  velocity,  that  thought  can 
form  no  period  of  absolute,  corporeal,  or  mental  identity. 
The  action  of  the  memory,   which  lasts  no  longer  than 
the  nerve,  its  agent,  vibrates,  conveys  ep'ochas  of  pain 
and  pleasure,  called  existence,  to  the  circulating  matter, 
and  this  is  what  is  vulgarly  understood  by  identity,  which 
ceases,    upon  the  decomposition  of  the    corporeal    and 
mental    union,  and   releases  itself  in    all  Nature,    from 
which  it  is  impossible,  even  in  thought,  to  separate  it- 
All   Nature,  that  is,  all  its  parts,  called  I,  you,  they, 
which  are,  were,  and  will   be  eternally  a  part  of  Nature, 
are  interested  in  preserving  these  canals,  or  selfish  iden- 
tities 'of  persons,   in    order  that  matter   may  be  assured 
happiness  and  well-being  in  its  eternal  revolution. 

The  essence  of  man  may  be  simply  and  intelligibly  de- 
fined to  be ;  Matter  organized  so  as  to  procure  a  volition, 


THE  ESSENCE   OF  MAN,  17 

and  to  possess  means,  to  gratify  the  same,  and  to  procure 
judgment,  which  may  direct  that  volition  and  means  to 
well-being  and  happiness  of  the  man.  Whatever  oppo- 
ses that  judgment,  must  be  inimical  to  man,  a$what  aids 
it  must  be  friendly. 

Nothing  proves  HO  strongly  the  false  principles  of  civil 
institutions,  as  the  political  tenet  of  necessity  to  keep 
the  people  in  ignorance.  This  tenet  is  justified  upon 
considerations  of  relative  truth:  for  example ;  suppose 
any  one  nation,  to  cultivate  truth  ;  in  proportion  as  this 
advanced,  coercion  would  recede,  and  ultimately  leave 
mankind  in  a  state  of  absolute  liberty,  which  would  be 
employed  in  enjoying  happiness,  or  a  state  of  pleasure, 
repose  and  content.  If  the  neighboring  nations  contin- 
ued in  a  state  of  ignorance,  coercion  would  oblige  them 
to  substitute  wealth  and  power  to  pleasure,  labor  and  care 
to  repose,  and  ambition  and  avarice  to  content.  This  dis; 
position  would  lead  them  to  invade  their  happy  neighbors, 
in  order  to  subdue  and  enslave  them;  but  moral  princi- 
ples are  like  seed  on  the  earth,  which  in  many  cases 
may  be  dispersed,  and  trod  to  destruction,  yet  some  will 
not  fail  to  take  root,  and  these  will  invigorate  and  mul- 
tiply, and  may  eventually  cover  the  whole  earth  with  ve- 
getation. 

Nations  tremble,  therefore,  at  this  effect  of  truth,  auil 
dread  the  revolution  or  innovation,  which  may  change  its 
acorns  into  oaks,  though  these  latter  must  ultimately  ve- 
getate over  all  Nature,  and  shade  it  from  the  injuries  of 
ignorance  and  violence. 

The  innovations  that  truth  must  naturally  bring  about, 
would  not  appal  strong  minds,  if  they  reflected,  That  the 
agitation  which  the  falling  pebble  of  truth  causes  in  the 
centre  of  the  lake,  subsides  into  easy  undulations,  which 
spread  themselves  to  the  extremities,  without  injuring  the 
waters.  The  innovations  of  error  are  alone  to  be  dread- 
ed. Truth  and  Nature,  oppose  the  recoiling  frothy 
waves,  and  never  suffer  a  calm  upon  the  lake  of  human- 
ity, while  error  like  a  hurricane,  continues  to  trouble  its 
waters. 


18         THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

Of  what  little  value  is  the  present  period  of  existence, 
compared  to  eternity? — how  important  is  that  reform 
which  promises  eternal  happiness  to  our  immortal  con- 
nections with  Nature,  when  this  essence  dissolves,  and 
breaks  our  present  form  of  connection  with  Nature. 
Since  the  elements  in  motion  may  convey  our  connec- 
tions to  the  climes  of  Africa,  some  members  of  the  Brit- 
ish senate,  not  yet  arrived  at  a  state  of  intellectual  exis- 
tence, who  vote  the  continuation  of  African  slavery  and 
misery,  no  doubt  perpetuate  that  injustice  and  cruelty  to 
their  own  connections,  or  future  essence  HI  Nature.  How- 
ever this  doctrine  of  connection  may,  by  its  novelty  and 
importance,  dazzle  or  confound  minds  unused  to  abstract 
contemplation,  or  the  common  exercise  of  thought ;  to 
an  intellectual  mind,  that  can  invert  its  powers  upon  self, 
it  appears  intuitive,  easy  and  almost  demonstrative,  from 
the  universal  transformation  of  matter  into  matter,  and 
the  impossibility  to  conceive  its  cessation,  though  we  can- 
not imagine  its  mode  of  connection  with  Nature. 

Let  us  now  consider  what  are  the  causes  that  disorder 
these  canals,  or  oppose  this  machine,  man,  in  his  pro- 
gress on  the  right  line  to  well-being,  or  happiness.  First, 
let  them  be  considered  in  an  INDIVIDUAL  STATE. 

In  this  state  his  opponents  or  enemies  are,  physical 
ills,  as  hunger,  beasts,  sickness,  disorder  of  the  elements, 
and  enemies  of  his  own  species.  These  alternately  in- 
terrupt his  repose,  and  destroy  him.  His  mental  facul- 
ties, in  a  progressive  improvement,  lead  him  to  associa- 
tion, which  may  guard  him  against  these  evils ;  but  as 
the  faculties  of  the  mind  are  slow  in  improvement,  asso- 
ciation, will  be  slow  in  its  effect,  but  like  all  parts  of 
Nature,  will  move  in  a  circle  of  perfection  and  destruc- 
tion. Let  us  now  view  the  animal  man  in  a 


THE    REVELATION    OF    NATURE. 


STATE  OF   ASSOCIATION. 

THE  first  state  of  association  of  men  was  domestic, 
and  it  seems  to  have  been  well  adapted  to  the  enjoyment 
of  animal  happiness;  or  corporeal  well-being,  by  their  mutu- 
al aid  in  building  houses,  nursing  in  sickness,  procuring 
provision,  increasing  defencf  against  the  common  enemy, 
and  improving  their  mental  powers  and  sensual  pleasures, 
by  inter-communication.  In  this  state,  however  it  might 
be  corporeally  grateful,  the  mental  faculties  had  no  pow- 
er, either  to  confer  consciousness  of  existence,  or  intel- 
lectual happiness,  and  could  not  arrest  the  evil  progress 
of  a  too  extensive  association,  which  introduced  the 
different  violences  of  personal  tyranny,  assumption  of 
property,  and  public  or  civilized  coercion,  which  destroyed 
all  liberty  and  with  it  happiness. 

The  progress  of  the  extension  of  association,,  will  no 
doubt,  at  length  so  improve  the  mental  faculties,  that  it 
will  discover  that  state,  individual  and  social,  which  the 
essence  of  man  requires,  to  procure  to.  it  well-being  or 
happy  existence. 

As  long  as  individual  violence  exists,  so  long  must  ex- 
ist public  coercion  ;  but  this  should  only  be  exercised 
over  the  violators.  I  know  but  one  other  instance  where 
it  has  the  slightest  pretext  of  justification,  which  is,  in 
compelling  the  individual  to  labor  on  his  proportion  of 
soil,  which  gives  subsistence  to  the  society;  but  this 
would  be  rendered  absolutely  unnecessary  by  the  exam- 
ple of  education ;  for  as  the  labor  of  one  man  would 
maintain  twenty,  the  unconquerable  indolence  of  a  few 
perverse  individuals,  who  might  resist  the  force  of  edu- 
cation, can  never  be  a  sufficient  reason  to  employ  coer- 
cion, which  Ls  the  demon  of  all  sensitive  Nature.  Be- 
sides, the  example  of  many  Indian  tribes,  who  cultivate 
the  soil  in  common,  and  have  substituted  the  habit  ot 
custom  and  education  for  coercion,  demonstrates  this  to 
be  the  error  of  civilization,  and  shows  the  superiority  ot 

13 


20          THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

HilKcnrupted  instinct  over  corrupted  and  prejudiced  rea- 
son, bv  conducting  the  animal,  man,  nearer  to  a  state  of 
well-being;  though- this  can  only  be  perfected  and  se- 
cured by  enlightened  reason. 

The  present  mode  of  association  is  founded  upon  ig- 
norance ajd  error.  The  competition  of  nations  for  riches 
and  power  has  obliged  them  to  sacrifice  happiness  to 
those  objects,  and  states  and  individuals  are  both  the  vic- 
tims of  this  folly. 

Let  us  review  the  life  of  nfan  in  the  present  state  of 
civilization.  The  poor  man,,  upon  whose  labor  depends 
the  riches  of  the  state,  is>  by  the  avarice  and  policy  of 
the  great,  obliged  to  such  excessive  toil,  as  reduces  him 
to  a  state  of  mere  animal  existence,  and  a  premature  and 
painful  dissolution.  He  is  so  stimulated  by  the  goad  of 
necessity,  that  his  mind,  attached  to  the  object  of  his 
labor,  leaves  him  no  repose,  in  which  alone  the  faculty, 
of  thought  can  extend  itself,  and  acquire  consciousness 
of  existence ;  so  that  his  body  becomes  a  painful  duct 
or  stage  of  matter,  in  its  eternal  revolution.  The  rich 
and  powerful,  who  cause  this  evil,  are  themselves  no  less 
unhappy,  though  relieved  from  the  goad  of  necessity, 
which  they  inflict  upon  others,  to  urge  them  to  excessive 
labor.  They  do  not  labor  sufficiently  to  procure  them- 
selves health,  and  this  reduces  them  to  a  state  of  languor, 
from  which  they  seek  relief  by  the  occupation  of  the 
mind,  which,  though  it  may  cure  that  disorder,  causes, 
by  sedentary  habits,  a  variety  of  others  more  painful. 

The  moral  laws  of  chastity  oppress  with  greater  vio- 
lence the  rich  females  than  the  poor.  The  former,  from 
their  luxurious  diet,  derive  irritable  habits  of  blood,  which 
inflame  the  passions,  and  these  are  incessantly  exposed 
to  the  temptations  attendant  on  the  mode  of  conduct  in 
high  life ;  while  the  poor  are  freed  from  this  torment,  and 
its  various  causes.  I  allude  only  to  the  females ;  for  the 
males,  who  have  contrived  by  superior  power  to  impose 
this  law  upon  the  weaker  sex,  disavow  its  duties ;  and 
disease,  premature  and  painful  old  age  and  death  revenge 
their  treachery ;  for  by  imposing  continence  unnn  *^» 


THE  REVELATION  OP  NATURE.         21 

0 

whole  gentle  sex,  the  few,  whose  sense  and  sensibility 
see  and  break  through  the  cobweb  fetters  of  imagination, 
and  Mm  their  rightful  asylum  of  Nature,  from  the  small- 
ness  of  their  number,  have  to  seek  subsistence  from  the 
brutal  lust  of  their  tyrants,  arid  become  repositories,  or 
common  sewers  of  such  pestilential  diseases,  that  man, 
like  the  phenix,  procreates  in  a  burning  nest. 

The  laws  of  chastity  are  intended  to  promote  popula- 
tion, and  population  to  increase  defence.  Would  it  not 
be  wiser  to  consider,  whether  an  unhappy  people  ought 
to  be  augmented,  or  desire  to  be  defended ;  and  wheth- 
er it  is  acting  as  becomes  intellectual  beings,  conscious 
of  their  eternal  connection  with  the  integer  of  Nature,  to 
augment  the  quantity  of  matter  in  animal  revolution, 
while  the  ducts  or  stages  of  identities  are  forned  to  com- 
municate misery  to  passive  matter,  and  perpetuate  it  to 
the  active,  or  procreator. 

FURTHER  CONSIDERATIONS 

OF 

MATTER 

THE  mind  is  overwhelmed  with  astonishment  when  it 
reflects,  that  the  intellectual  faculties  seem  to  have  lost 
their  natural  gravitation  towards  seifj  and  are  constantly 
propelled  from  their  true  centre.  They  have  formed,  or 
imagined  a  knowledge  of  motion,  by  an  universal  intelli- 
gence— they  have  discovered  the  laws  of  planetary  revo- 
lutions of  distant  worlds — they  have  discovered  the  va- 
rious laws  of  Nature  in  the  parts  of  their  own  inhabited 
world — and  yet  the  centre  self  is  as  unknown  and  neg- 
lected, as  if  it  was  a  non-entity. 

What  can  be  the  cause  of  this  moral  phenomenon  ?  It 
would  seem  as  if  Nature  had,  by  the  propel  ling  force  ot 
rejudice  and  error,  elevated  the  mind  to  a  great  distance 
its  centre  that  in  returning,  by  falling  from  such  a 


TI1E   REVELATION    0V  NATURE. 

height,  its  impulsive  weight  might  carry  it  to  tlw  centre 
of  gravity  or  self,  where  it  would  find  eternal  repose. 

The  fictions  or  the  corruptions  of  truth,  made  by  the- 
imagination  when  considering  universal  motion,  are  ab- 
surd and  useless  ;  and  it  is  unworthy  of  human  reason, 
to  combat;  the  errors  of  mankind,  formed  by  the  reveries 
of  the  imagination  upon  this  subject.  The  only  digni- 
fied and  useful  operation  of  the  mental  faculties,  unbiassed 
by  the  prejudices  of  custom  and  education,  is  to  consid- 
er the  motion  and  nature  of  self. 

My  mind  is  filled  with  amazement  when  I  review  the 
past  ages  of  the  world,  and  find  every  subject  that 
Thought  and  Nature  present,  investigated  with  zeal,  eru- 
dition and  capacity,  and  the  subject  Self,  of  such  infinite 
importance  that  its  very  comparison  annihilates  every 
other,  almost  without  mention,  and  absolutely  without 
investigation. 

What  applause  and  glory  have  Ptolemy,  Copernicus  and 
Newton  obtained  by  discovering  the  planetary  system  ? 
What  benefit  has  mankind  received  from  them?  I  know 
of  none. 

What  will  that  mortal  deserve  who  shall  discover,  or 
rather,  form  the  moral  system,  and  jirevent  the  terrestrial 
bodies  from  moving  in  eccentric  and  destructive  collision? 
He  will  be  amply  recompensed  by  the  proportion  of  hap- 
piness, which  he,  r^s  a  part  of  the  great  integer  of  Na- 
ture, will  receive  from  his  zealous  study;  for  that  mind 
which  has  force  to  make  such  a  discovery,  can  receive 
no  recompense  from  the  articulated  sounds  of  praise  be- 
stowed upon  it  by  its  fellows. 

Self  is  that  chain  which  connects  Man  with  Nature; 
and  though  its  vibration  is  strong  upon  the  sense  of  feel- 
ing, thought  can  give  it  no  form.  It  revolves  about  the 
universal  centre  of  Nature  in  the  moral  world,  and  is 
connected  with  the  infinite  orbit  of  other  selfs,  by  the 
radii  of  sympathy,  which  is  to  the  moral,  what  attraction 
is  to  the  physical  system. 

The  quality  of  willing  for  self  alone,  may  be  called 
its  attraction  of  cohesion,  and  the  quality  of  assimila- 

f't*.*  4^4  figs*.   £<U, 

,,.        '       '  .       •«&&   ~%fct,i.'&$*    ft*  Xik'-*4^*-/      7&1 

/ 


THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE.          23 

ting  through  the  medium  of  persuasion,  its  own  will  and 
the  wilj  of  others,  the  attraction  of  gravitation  or  centripe- 
tal force,  arialagous  to  that  of  material  bodies.  With 
these  two  qualities  every  moral  self  would  revolve  about 
its  integer  Nature,  as  a  centre;  and  the  dreadful  colli- 
sions of  humanity  ceasing  to  form  a  chaos  ;  it  would 
move  in  all  the  harmony  and  order  of  the  celestial  bodies, 
round  the  sun  of  truth,  in  the  orbits  of  enlightened  and 
intellectual  existence. 

The  first  blow  given  by  man,  in  a  staf.e  of  ignorance, 
to  tiu.:  chain  or  connection  of  Helf  and  Nature,  by  vio- 
latuiu;  the  will  of  a  fellow-creature,  has  caused  such  a 
drc  »  ii'u!  vibration,  as  threatens  an  eternal  durability  :  but 
the  epocha  of  its  relaxation  or  diminution  will  arrive, 
when  human  reason  shall  be  declared  free,  and  every 
thing  'that  cheeks  its  operation  shall  be  regarded  as  an 
en  y  to  human  nuture. 

In  proportion  as  the  faculty  of  thought  extends  itself, 
it  diminishes,  the  impulse  of  tins  vibration  or  passion  ;  and 
must,  in  its  perfection,  elevate  the  mind  to  a  state  of  in- 
teliff  i.uul  existence  ;  when  absolute  moral  liberty,  direct- 
ed hy  wisdom,  will  lead  man  to  a.  state  of  well-being  and 
happiness. 

SELF. 

To  what  a  sublime  position  must  that  being  elevate 
himself,  and  what  superior  excellence  of  the  intellectual 
faculties  must  he  possess,  who  can  look  down  into  and 
comprehend  this  labyrinth,  whose  paths  are  inexplorable 
to  the  man  who  walks  within  its  confines. 

Self,  as  a  part  of  all  Nature,  is  immortal  and  univer- 
sal, and  though  identity  of  matter  and  mind  separate,  and 
their  combination  or  identity  is  annihilated  by  death  ; 
yet  self  as  a  part  of  Nature,  can  never  be  annihilated  ; 
self  pervades  all  Nature  in  its  revolutions  and  operations, 
and  self  is  as  much  concerned  in  the  present  or  future 
health  and  happiness  of  all  Nature,  as  the  hand  is  con- 
cerned in  that tof  the  body. 

13* 


24  THE   REVELATION    OP   NATURE. 

Men  who  have  no  superstitious  fears,  suppose  the  dis- 
solution of  the  body  to  end  their  concern  with  Nature  ; 
but  if  their  mental  faculties  were  still  more  enlightened, 
they  would  see  that  particular  combinations  of  matter, 
called  intellectualized  bodies,  are  but  stations  or  inns  to 
receive  matter  in  its  revolution,  and  that  those  inns  are 
to  be  regulated  by  laws  and  policy,  to  give  comfort  and 
pleasure  to  matter  in  its  eternal  revolution  or  passage, 
and  from  which  self  can  never  separate  its  connection. 

Matter  may  be  divided  into  two  parts,  intellectualized 
and  unintellectualized,  and  these  are  constantly  changing 
places  ;  so  that  the  former  by  wise  operations,  labors  for 
the  happiness  of  both.  By  education  and  constitution 
good  moulds  are  formed  to  receive  matter,  and  by  a 
wise  government  happy  inns  or  resting  places  are  provi- 
ded ;  and  while  intelligent  matter  enjoys  this  happiness 
which  it  has  produced,  it  prepares  happiness  for  unintel- 
lectualized matter  also  and  perpetuates  it  for  its  own  re- 
turn in  the  general  revolution. 

This  power  of  the  human  mind  to  separate  from  its 
own  identity,  and  generalize  itself  with  that  of  Nature, 
presents  the  same  difficulty  to  civilized  and  improved, 
though  not  perfect  understandings,  as  the  eternal  durabil- 
ity of  matter  would  to  a  savage  mind.  He  sees  matter 
dissolve,  and  therefore  thinks  it  destroyed  ;  so  improved 
minds,  seeing  individual  identity  apparently  annihilated, 
cannot  eternalize  it  with  the  identity  of  Nature. 

The  novelty  of  this  'idea  must  also  increase  the  diffi- 
culty, for  it  may  first  arise  in  a  mind  employed  in  con- 
templating its  own  ideas,  and  not  learning  those  of  oth- 
ers ;  in  the  latter  case  the  faculty  of  thought  may  not  be 
improved,  yet  the  technical  or  external  operations  of  the 
mind  must  be  so,  by  acquiring  the  science  of  logic,  which 
gives  body  and  power  of  communication  to  thought ; 
without  which  the  mind  cannot  transfer  its  wisdom  to 
another  object,  which  is  useful,  and  even  necessary  by  as- 
similating those  objects  to  itself  in  order  to  form  social 
happiness. 


SELF-KNOWLEDGE    OR   WISDOM.  25 

This  universal  identity  or  unity  of  all  Nature  hns  also 
the  proofs  of  probability  from  intellectual  inference;  it 
demonstrates  itself  plainly  to  the  senses  by  sympathy, 

The  cries  of  an  animal  suffering  pain,  affect  with  pain 
every  sensible  animal  within  hearing;  and  the  acclama- 
tion of  joy  affects  with  pleasure  in  the  same  manner, 
though  not  so  generally. 

If  A  feels  the  pain  of  B,  and  the  latter  only  feels  the 
cause,  there  must  be  an  occult  relation  between  the  two 
bodies  ;  and  this  can  be  explained  only  by  supposing 
them  parts  of  the  same  integer,  and  their  specific  identi- 
ties and  bodies  component  parts  of  the  universal  mass 
and  identity  of  Nature. 

Utility  is  the  only  light  or  beacon,  which  ought  to  guide 
the  intellectual  faculty  in  its  progress  towards  well-being 
or  happiness. 

Metaphysicians  constantly  pass  the  point  of  utility 
when  they  go  beyond  the  volition  of  man  ;  for  this  is  the 
true  source  of  moral  motion,  which  is  to  arrange  moral 
bodies  in  the  intellectual  system  of  well-being  or  happi- 
ness ;  and  for  the  formation,  controj  and  guidance  of  this 
volition,  all  true  and  pure  intellect  will  operate,  and  neg- 
lect all  trivial  pursuits  of  extraneous  knowledge  of  art 
and  science,  which  should  be  permitted  to  occupy  the 
labors  of  the  mind  only  when  it  has  arrived  at  the  height 
of  perfecticn,  and  may  then  serve  to  augment  the  pleas- 
ures and  comforts  of  intellectual  existence,  without  impe- 
ding the  progress  or  energy  necessary  to  arrive  at  that  point. 

To  promote  the  study  of  self,  great  contemplation  and 
much  solitude  is  necessary;  for  in  the  world,  or  society, 
vanity  is  such  an  enemy  to  truth,  that  it  constantly  pre- 
fers and  recommends  error,  which  marks  the  triumph  of 
opinion,  as  investigation,  indecision  and  doubt  imply  ig- 
norance Hence  that  impertinent  logomachy  of  private 
conversation,  where  loquacity  is  mistaken  for  ability,  and 
where,  surrounded  by  ignorance,  glow-worm  like,  it  shines 
Brightest  in  the  dark. 

Hence  those  long  harangues  in  public  assemblies, 
which  by  fatiguing  the  .memory,  confound  the  judgment, 


26          THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

and  force  the  auditors  into  such  a  labyrinth  of  error,  that 
the  clue  of  decision  has  not  length  enough  to  reach 
from  the  exit  of  truth  through  the  extensive  mazes  of  a 
wandering  imagination. 

The  mind  of  great  vigor,  that  proceeds  upon  the  search 
of  truth,  must  resolve  never  to  be  ashamed  of  ignorance, 
but  only  of  error,  and  the  moment  this  resolution  is 
formed,  the  success  of  the  pursuit  is  assured  ;  for  true 
wisdom  consists  in  knowing  how  little  is  to  be  known, 
and  that  this  little  is,  however,  sufficient  for  the  purposes 
of  well-being  and  happiness. 

I  pronounce,  without  the  least  hesitation,  all  learned  or 
ingenious  men,  in  the  pursuit  of  the  arts  and  sciences, 
to  be  void  of  wisdom,  and  absolute  fools,  unless  they 
have  first  obtained  a  knowledge  of  self.  This  being  pro- 
cured, other  studies  may  be  followed  as  matter  of  pleas- 
ure and  amusement. 

Mankind  have  hitherto  confounded  the  two  qualities, 
knowledge  and  wisdom  ;  many  have  possessed  the  for- 
mer, and  in  a  most  eminent  degree  ;  but  few  the  latter, 
even  in  the  smallest  degree;  and  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  when 
compared  to  beings  endowed  with  wisdom,  is,  as  the 
poet  observed,  a  mere  ape,  and  all  his  knowledge  be- 
comes puerility  in  comparison  with  wisdom,  or  the  know- 
ledge of  self.  -*~ 

VVhat  benefit  is  it  to  mankind  to  discover  the  laws  of 
the  natural  world,  which  they  cannot  improve,  in  prefer- 
ence to  moral  laws,  upon  which  their  existence  and  hap- 
piness depend?  If  one  millionth  part  of  the  intellectual 
labor  of  man,  that  has  been  employed  on  the  former,  had 
been  bestowed  on  the  latter,  the  golden  age  of  the  poets 
would  have  been  verified,  and  man  would,  ages  ago, 
have  obtained  a  stale  of  intellectual  existence,  and  en- 
lightened Nature. 

itA^nk 


. 

u  ***»•• 


THE  REVELATION  OP  NATURE.          27 


PERSONAL   IDENTITY, 

I  shall  consider  as  existing  in  the  essence  of  man;  it 
seems  formed  of  or  consists  in  the   action  of  the  brain 
and  nerves,  which  are  the  causes  of  intellect;  when  this 
action  ceases,  memory  ceases,  and  with  it  identity,  for 
many  remember  nothing  that  occurred  before  the  age  of 
ten,  and  none  before  the  age  of  two  years ;  so  that  iden- 
tity  is  often  annihilated  during  the  existence  of  the  body. 
Identity  of  mind  and  body  can  never  be  fixed  by  matter, 
for  that  transmutes  and  exchanges  itself  for  fresh  matter 
every  moment,  and  the   mind  suffers  the   same  changes  ; 
so  that  identity  dwells  only  in  the  action  of  the  nervous 
system,   which    communicates  and  perpetuates  itself  to 
fresh  matter  ;  and  causes  this  canal  or  mould  of  matter 
to  be  sensible  of  pain    and  pleasure  ;  and  a  higher  con- 
sciousness of  intellectual  existence  of  I,  you,  and  they, 
directs  the  machine  to  pleasure,  and  teaches  it  to  avoid 
pain,  and  proves  that  the  dissolution  of  I,  you,  and  they, 
by  death,  or  by  want  of  memory,  is  the  same  thing.     Na- 
ture will  perpetuate  your  identity  in  her  own;  nerves  will 
vibrate  in  future  identities,  in  which  you  will  participate 
as  you  did  in  the  personal  one  at  two  years  old,  though 
you  have  lost  all  remembrance   of  it;  and  I,  you,  and 
they,  mean  no  more  than   parts  of  the  eternal  integer, 
Nature. 

I,  you,  and  they,  being  seperated  into  moulds,  into 
which  Nature  runs  its  plastic  matter,  take  particular 
forms,  and  these  being  used  or  broken,  are  restored  to 
the  great  mass,  fermented  or  mixed  up  therewith,  and  re- 
turn to  the  mould  as  before.  Of  the  potter  who  executes 
this  work,  or  the  cause  of  motion  in  matter,  we  can 
have  no  idea. 

All  attempts  of  the  human  mind  to  discover  the  first 
cause  of  motion,  are  as  weak  and  puerile  an  act  as  jump- 
ing up  to  catch  at  a  star;  an  enlightened  mind  never  at- 
tempts to  discover  the  primary  cause  of  motion,  even  in 


£8          THE  REVELATION  OP  NATURE. 

its  own  existence,  but  contents  itself  with  the  secondary 
causes  producing  volition,  and  will  entirely  occupy  itself 
to  discover  means  to  direct  that  motion  or  volition,  with 
which  it  is  impelled  in  a  direct  line  to  well-being  or  hap- 
piness. 

The  known  causes  of  volition  are  hunger,  lust  and  fear; 
the  first  to  support,  the  second  to  propagate,  and  the 
third  to  preserve  the  existence  of  the  animal ;  these,  the 
iknown  causes  of  moral  motion,  called  passions  are  con- 
jveyed  by  means  of  the  nerves  to  the  mind.  Let  us  now 
;observe,  what  are  the  powers  to  direct  these  passions  to 
'their  end. 

Impressions  made  upon  the  animal  by  means  of  the 
'senses  or  corporeal  nerves,  terminate  in  the  brain,  amd 
form  what  is  called  the  mind,  which  is  made  up  of  tlhe 
faculties  of  conception,  memory  and  judgment ;  concep- 
tion collects  the.  outward  objects,  or  forms  types  thereof ; 
memory  preserves  them  when  once  received;  and  judg- 
ment, by  associating  them  properly,  gives  the  sentiment 
or  opinion,  which  is  the  cause  of  volition  mid  action. 
These  form  a  triumvirate,  which,  if  the  col  leagues  were 
all  equally  good,  would  guide  tSie  animal  unerringly  to  the 
end  of  existence,  happiness  ;  but  should  it  happen  that 
one  of  .these  is  corrupted,  the  other  two  must  be  infected, 
and  incapable  of  government. 

Thus,  if  the  animal  is  impressed  by  means  of  the  visual 
sense,  with  the  appearance  of  an  egg;  he  is  at  that  time 
impelled  with  the  passion  of  hunger.  A  priest  tells  him 
he  must  not  eat  it;  his  conceptions  are  perverted  by  the 
ideas  of  the  priest,  his  memory  burthened  and  incunibered 
with  falsehood,  and  his  judgment  corrupted  by  the  mal- 
administration of  its  colleagues.  In  the  same  manner 
the  gratifications  of  the  other  passions  may  be  impeded, 
and  the  animal  propelled  in  a  line  contrary  to  that  of 
happiness. 

Volition  of  the  passions  and  power  of  judgment  to  di- 
rect it,  require  that  the  latter  should  be  under  no  control, 
in  order  for  the  auimal  to  be  in  a  state  of  well-being,  in 
dividually.     But,  as  such  a  state  is  incompatible   with 


PERSONAL    IDENTITY.  2l> 

the  excellence  of  his   nature,  we  must   consider  him  in 
union  with  others  of  his  species. 

By  this  union,  however,  he  can  give  up  none  of  his  in- 
dividual liberty ;  he  associates  to  facilitate  and  secure  (he 
free  operation  of  his  mental  faculties,  and  of  his  volition. 
In  the  first  associations  among  mankind,  if  the  free  will 
of  man  had   been  forced  or  violated,  ihe  passion  of  li-ar 
would   immediately  have   dissolved   the  assembly.      We 
may  suppose  in  this  first  state  of  society,  any  two  men 
under  the  impulse  of  the  same  passion  of  hunger,  lust  or 
fear;  if  they  found  an  egg,  would  they  contend  i'or  it  or 
divide  it?  If  judgment  was  weak,  as  in  the  brute  crea- 
tion, they  would  contend  for   it  with  their  lives,  hut   if 
strong  they  would    certainly  divide  the  egg,  as  no  one 
could    hope  to  preserve   his  own  person    inviolate,  if  he 
encroached   on  the   liberty  of  another.     In  like  manner, 
should  a  woman  present  herself  to  two  men,  both   being 
under  the    impulse    of   the  passion  of  lust ;  if  savages 
they  would   contend  for  her  like  brutes;  if  wise,  to  se- 
cure the  freedom  of  their  own  will,  they  would  assimilate 
it  to  hers. 

For  man  to  obtain  well-being  or  happiness,  it  is  ne- 
cessary that  he  should  eojoy  an  absolute  state  of  liberty, 
to  will  for  himself,  but  not  for  others ;  which  may  be  ef- 
fected by  means  of  good  government  and  good  educa- 
tion, which  will  reciprocally  correct  and  reform  each 
oth  •. 

I'.;sonal  identity  is  that  state  of  matter  in  which  it 
pos:*.  sses  a  consciousness  of  existence,,  and  power  of 
motion  to  procure  happiness  for  the  present,  and  thereby 
perpetuate  it  in  every  stage  of  its  transmutation  or  revo- 
lution ;  and  no  change  of  that  identity  by  loss  of  memo- 
ry or  by  death,  can  dissolve  the  connection  with  its  inte- 
ger .Nature,  but  like  a  river  absorbed  by  the  ocean,  it 
transmutes  into  all  forms  of  matter,  and  returns  to  riv- 
ers again. 

The  vegetables,  animals  and  water,  incorporate  every 
day  by  aliment,  [and  air  by  breathing]  into  self  or  identity ; 
it  is  of  consequence  therefore  to  all  Nature,  that  this  due1 


30          THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

duct,  through  which  they  are  to  pass,  should  communi- 
cate to  them  happiness.  Self  or  identity  is  the  union  of 
this  various  matter,  organized  to  feel  pleasure  and  pain 
or  consciousness  of  existence  which  is  continued  by  the 
influence  of  memory.  Vegetables,  animals,  rivers,  [air, 
caloric,  electricity,] — all  Nature — are  interested  in  the 
intellectual  and  corporeal  organization  of  this  common 
duct  called  personal  identity  ;  and  since  its  interruptions 
or  cessations  never  affect  the  immortality  of  Nature,  it 
is  the  interest  of  matter  in  motion  to  procure  happiness 
to  matter  out  of  motion,  which  will  be  reciprocated  and 
perpetuated,  if  inteilectualized  mutter  should  be  influ- 
enced by  the  above  reflections. 

The  mind,  being  strongly  impressed  with  the  immortal 
connection  between  self  and  Nature,  expands  its  bounds 
of  existence,  and  acquires  a  new  intellectual  essence  \ 
and  though  elevated  beyond  the  essences  of  fellow-selves, 
yet  in  the  wisely  measured  gratification  of  the  sensual 
and  full  enjoyment  of  intellectual  pleasures,  it  conde- 
scends into  the  orbit  of  society,  and  there,  by  a  nice  eco- 
nomy of  reason  and  passion,  plucks  the  roses  of  pleas- 
ure, and  erases  those  thorns  of  pain,  to  which  the  insti- 
tutions of  ignorance  have  subjected  the  whole  human 
species,  and  which  error  or  vanity,  co-operate  to  per- 
petuate. 

This  vast  and  important  sentiment  of  the  immortal 
connection  of  self  and  Nature,  regenerates  its  authors  in 
the  instant  of  its  conception,  and  causes  the  exalted  char- 
acter, which  the  ethics  and  example  of  ages  could  never 
produce  : — a  man  whose  heart,  finding  or  sufficient  ali- 
ment for  its  universal  sympathy  in  the  contracted  seg- 
ments of  parental,  social,  patriotic,  and  human  affection 
and  love,  expands  to  the  great  circle  of  sensitive  Nature, 
and  dries  up  the  source  of  evil  with  the  ardor  of  its  be- 
i-evolence  :  and  whose  existence  so  elevated,  if  not  tem- 
pered by  great  wisdom,  would  find  no  medium  of  happi- 
ness in  the  society  of  ignorant  creatures,  or  fellow  selves 
or  parts  of  the  common  integer  of  Nature. 


THE  REVELATION  OP  NATURE.         31 

SELF. 

[CONTINUED.] 

THE  study  of  this  important,  but  unknown  and  neg- 
]  lected  subject,  will  explain  all  the  mystery  of  the  moral 
world.  Self  is  God — self  is  religion — self  is  virtue, 
wisdom,  truth  and  happiness.  The  greatest  power  and 
operation  of  the  mental  faculties  is,  to  invert  and  reflect 
on  self:  for  he  who  gains  a  knowledge  of  himself,  will 
know  how  to  love  himself,  and  by  making  self  happy, 
will  communicate  happiness  to  all  animated  matter. 
Philosophers,  or  those  who,  having  broken  the  bonds  of 
puerile  error,  thought  themselves  wise,  have  all  been  ig- 
norant of  self,  and  have  called  treason  against  the  sacred 
majesty  of  self,  by  the  names — "virtue"  and  ''duty," 
and  have  lead  mankind  from  the  mist  of  error,  to  sink 
them  into  its  abyss. 

I  The  investigation  of  self  demands  an  uncommon  ex- 
ertion of  the  intellectual  faculties,  and  is  a  phenomenon 
as  rare  in  the  moral  world,  as  would  be  a  river  in  the 
physical  world,  [if  endued  with  consciousness,]  attempt- 
ing to  flow  back  to  its  source,  to  discover  in  order  to  pu- 
rify it.  If  the  mind  in  this  stupendous  attempt  should 
not  be  steady,  or  make  its  progress  in  a  direct  line,  it 
will  be  neither  cause  of  wonder  nor  reproof. 
\  Self  is  formed  of  a  body  of  organized  matter,  produ- 
cing volition  or  moral  motion,  to  give  life  and  mind  or 
understanding,  to  direct  that  body  or  machine,  called 
man,  to  the  well-being  of  his  essence,  or  a  happy  state. 
j  When  the  mind  has,  by  the  arduous  process  of  ab- 
straction from  education,  custom  and  will,  reached  its 
source,  or  that  point  of  issuing  where  its  motion  is  visi- 
ble, it  surveys  the  plains,  and  selects  that  channel  to 
bound  its  course,  which  will  convey  fertility  to  its  worldt 
or  happiness  to  itself. 

14 


THE    REVELATION    OF    NATURE. 


HAPPINESS 

Is  that  state  of  the  animal  man,  at.  which  he  arrives 
by  the  power  of  the  understanding  which  being  exerted 
in  reflection*  on  past,  present  and  future,  enables  him  to 
form  a  volition,  or  acquire  a  motion,  to  progress  forward 
tmimpe'ded,  in  a  state  of  absolute  liberty,  and  in  a  right 
line  to  the  well-being  of  his  essence. 

Whatever  impedes  this  volition,  formed  by  means  of 
the  understanding,  must  be  inimical  to  the  happiness  of 
man.  These  impediments  are  either  physical  or  moral; 
physical,  as  when  he  hungers  and  the  fruit  upon  the  tree 
is  elevated  beyond  his  reach  ;  moral,  as  when  one  of  his 
own  species  is  in  possession  of  it,  and  refuses  to  parti- 
cipate it.  To  remove  these  impediments,  associations 
of  the  human  species  were  formed,  by  whose  collective 
bodily  force,  physical  impediments  were  overcome,  and 
by  their  collective  mental  force,  moral  ones  might  be 
counteracted. 

In  this  state  self  seems  to  have  acquired  new  relations, 
or  rather  to  have  extended  its  own  nature  ;  but  by  no 
means  to  have  contracted  it,  nor,  according  to  both  vulgar 
and  philosophical  opinions,  ancient  and  modern,  to  have 
sacrificed  its  own  happiness  to  that  of  society;  but  on 
the  contrary,  the  volition  is  only  changed,  and  though 
forced  back  by  the.  understanding,  to  react  upon  its  source, 
it  acquires  a  greater  momentum,  and  is  kept  steadier  up- 
on a  right  line  to  happiness,  which  it  reaches  the  sooner, 
imitating  the  laws  of  material  projectiles. 

*  The  connection  of  identity  or  being  with  Nature  passes 
«  through  the  infinite  combinations  of  existence  and  essence.  I 
have  been  from  all  eternity  passing  through  the  several  stages  of 
inanimate,  vegetable  and  animal  states  ;  and  this  truth  gives  me 
an  interest  to  oppose  and  remove  every  evil  from  sensitive  Ma- 
ture :  as  I  labor  to  the  advantage  and  happiness,  ultimately  o 
my  own  connections,  and  upon  this  truth  reposes  the  whole  mo- 
ral system  of  Nature. 


THE  RECIPROCITY   OF   INTEREST.  33 

To  prove  this  axiom,  which  if  established  will  over- 
turn all  ancient  philosophy,  and  introduce  a  new  system, 
I  shall  suppose  that  two  individuals,  just  entered  into  a 
social  state,  and  impelled  by  the  most  powerful  of  all  the 
passions,   hunger,  discover  upon  a  tree  a  small  quantity 
of  fruit,  which  they  can  acquire  only  by  mutual  aid  :  this 
being  done,  the  fruit  is  found  to  be  too  little  to  satisfy  the 
appetite  of  either,  and  yet  they  divide  it,  though  they  had 
each  a  volition,  propelling  them  to  eat  the  whole.     This 
volition,  however,  they  suppress ;  and  this  is  called  the 
sacrifice  of  self  to  society  ;  whereas  it  is,  on  the  contrary, 
turning  the    advantage  of  society  to   the  particular  ad- 
vantage of  self;  for   the  mental  power  surveying  con- 
stantly its  own   motion  or  volition,  pushes  it  back  up- 
on   the   source,  self,   to  acquire  an   augmentation ;  and 
the   first  volition  of  eating  all,  is  changed  to  a  wider  or 
greater  volition  of  giving  away  hal^  by  the  following  re- 
flection : 

Were  I  to  devour  the  whole  of  the  fruit,  my  companion 
would  desert  me,  and  I  should  lose  his  aid,  and  conse- 
quently suffer  want ;  I  should  also  be  deprived  of  the 
passion  of  sympathy,  which  extends  and  harmonizes  my 
essence  ;  and  lastly,  I  should  barter  the  great  good  of  so- 
ciety, present  and  future,  acquired  by  mental  reflection, 
for  the  momentary  pleasure  of  taste. 

I  shall  suppose  another  instance,  where  three  individ- 
uals are  concerned,  a  female  and  two  males  ;  the  latter 
desire  to  enjoy  or  cohabit  with  the  former,  since  they 
cannot  both  participate,  as  in  the  case  of  the  fruit,  there 
must  be  a  momentary  preference.  The  delay,  however, 
or  check  of  the  volition  of  enjoyment,  in  this  case,  would 
proceed  from  the  paramount  volition  of  liberty,  which 
never  can  violate  the  will  of  another,  if  the  understand- 
ing is  sound  or  in  its  natural  state  ;  because  on  reflection 
or  thought,  we  must  be  sensible,  that  the  forcing  our  will 
upon  another,  perverts  the  order  of  the  moral  world,  and 
breaks  down  all  the  barriers  that  guard  happiness  or  well- 
being,  and  this  for  the  advantage  of  a  momentary  prefer- 


34         THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE.  | 

ence.  The  moment  we  suffer  self  to  violate  volition,  we 
assent  to  its  being  violated,  and  destroy  the  basis  of  all 
well-berng. 

By  these  examples  we  see,  that  when  self,  in  its  voli- 
tion, directed  by  judgment,  gives  up  a  little  present  for 
much  future  good,  it  makes  no  sacrifice,  but  is  ever  most 
partial  when  it  seems  the  least  so,  and  that  judgment 
when  opposing,  or  resisting  volition,  operates  as  a  flood- 
gate, not  to  destroy,  but  to  preserve  the  water  to  flow  in 
a  current  of  utility. 

If,  in  the  first  institutions  of  society,  its  collective 
force  of  coercion  had  been  employed  only  against  the  vi- 
olators of  personal  freedom,  there  would  have  been  no 
moral  evil  at  this  day  upon  the  face  of  the  globe.  But 
the  torrent  of  violation  has  now  gained  a  dreadful  extent, 
and  the  rugged  rocks  of  coercion,  in  attempting  to  stop 
the  destructive  current  of  this  enormous  cataract,  turn 
the  inundation  upon  the  peaceful  meadows,  and  involve 
all  Nature  in  the  same  calamity.  The  civil  institutions 
of  mankind,  in  order  to  preserve  and  perpetuate  exis- 
tence, have  destroyed  the  liberty  and  happiness  of  es- 
sence or  self.  Self  is  the  subdivision  and  partition  of 
all  Nature,  into  particular  identities,  to  enjoy  conscious- 
ness, happiness  and  motion  in  the  dispensation  and  eco- 
nomy of  Nature,  who  seems  to  have  rendered  it  impossi- 
sible  for  self,  willingly  and  knowingly,  to  do  any  thing 
against  its  own  happiness  ;  and  even  were  it  possible 
that  the  volition,  under  the  guidance  of  a  sound  under- 
standing, should  will  evil  to  self,  it  would  be  the  highest 
crime  in  Nature  to  execute  such  evil ;  and  this  proves, 
that  virtue  and  self  love  are  one  and  the  same  thing. 

Happiness  is  that  condition  or  state  of  essence  in 
which  the  sensations  of  pleasure  predominate  either  in 
actual  gratification,  or  in  expectation  which  causes  agree- 
able emotions  to  fill  up  the  vacuum  or  passage  from  that 
to  enjoyment. 

Violence  has  given  so  dreadful  a  concussion  and  vibra- 
tion to  the  universal  chain  of  existence,  that  policy  has 


THE   BENEFITS    OF    REPOSE.  35 

invented  institutions,  calculated  solely  to  give  tenacity  to 
the  links,  in  order  to  preserve,  the  whole  from  destruc- 
tion or  annihilation. 

To  wave  figurative  speech ;  Man  has  totally  changed 
the  idea  of  well-being  into  strong  or  durable  being.  To 
constitute  happiness,  repose  is  the  greatest  component 
part ;  but  the  violence  of  nations  demands  a  sacrifice  of 
it  to  labor,  which  procures  population  and  riches,  upon 
which  the  strength  and  competition  of  nations  and  indi- 
viduals are  founded. 

To  a  regenerated  mind  in  a  state  of  intellectual  exis- 
tence, repose  lengthens  time — moments  into  hours,  hours 
into  days,  days  into  years,  years  into  ages,  and  ages  into 
eUrnily ;  and  wisdom  fills  up  the  immense  space.  But 
the  same  repose  is  misery  to  an  unregenerated  mind  in  a 
state  of  mere  animal  existence,  that  has  no  knowledge  of 
self,  but  demands  the  agitation  of  perpetual  occupation, 
or,  like  the  pendulum,  loses  life  with  motion. 

The  intellectual  mind  also  cannot  exist  without  mo- 
tion; but  it  is  the  undulation  caused  by  the  zephir  of  de- 
sin's,  and  corrected  by  the  intellectual  sun  shine  ;  where- 
as the  motion  of  animal  existence  is  that  of  the  vessel, 
tempest-tost,  and  without  the  helm  of  reason  ;  and  intel- 
lectual lightnings  are  dreaded,  as  they  increase  while  they 
expose  the  horrors  of  the  storm. 

Thus,  the  mere  animal  existence  dreads  the  repose 
which  invites  reflection,  while  the  intellectual  mind, 
courts  it  as  the  only  means  of  enjoying,  ensuring  and 
perpetuating  happiness.  The  former  has  little  more  cori- 
sc'wusuess  of  existence  than  the  brute,  and  his  happiness, 
which  consists  in  the  indulgence  of  blind  tempestuous 
pas-ions,  is  interrupted  by  the  least  relaxation.  The  in- 
tellectual mind,  on  the  contrary,  besides  its  pure  calm  en- 
joyment, fills  up  each  period  of  repose,  with  the  emo- 
tions of  reflection  and  anticipation,  which  increase  its 
powers  of  consciousness. 

Tlie  present  situation  of  mankind  in  society,  recals  to 
mind,  the  fable  of  two  inimical,  ferocious  beasts,  who 
continued  in  combat  so  long,  each  watching  the  assault 

14* 


36        THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

>of  its  antagonist,  that  inanition  consumed  both  on  the 
field  of  battle,  as  they  neglected  to  feed,  whi-e  fury  and 
suspicion  rivetted  their  attention  on  their  visible  enemy, 
till  death,  by  famine,  triumphed  over  both. 

So  it  is  with  mankind.  They  combat  nation  against 
nation  for  existence,  and  sacrifice  the  end  to  the  means, 
or  well-being  and  happiness  to  the  security  of  existence. 

The  great  enemy  to  happiness  is  the  fear  that  every 
individual  nation  has  of  adopting  the  theory  and  practice 
of  truth,  lest  if  its  neighbors  should  not  also  adopt  it,  its 
own  safety  would  be  exposed.  Every  one  fears  to  throw 
the  pebble  of  truth  into  any  part  of  the  lake  of  humani- 
ty, lest  the  resistance  of  the  circumjacent  waters,  in- 
creasing the  violent  agitation  on  tlie  centre  self,  should 
overwhelm  and  destroy  it ;  whereas  it  would  but  give 
that  energy  of  concussion  necessary  to  carry  its  undula- 
tions upon  the  shore  of  all  sensitive  Nature. 

There  is  no  subject  of  such  infinite  importance  to 
mankind,  as  the  augmentation  of  judgirent  or  reason, 
which  can  be  promoted  only  by  a  free  and  unlimited  disqui- 
sition of  truth,  and  the  evils  which  human  nature  suffers 
over  all  the  globe,  can  never  be  remedied  while  thought 
is  shackled. 

Did  no  evil  exist  in  Nature,  thought  might  then  be 
bound  in  the  strongest  fetters,  lest  it  might  perhaps  do 
harm  by  inventing  error ;  but,  as  at  present,  the  contrary 
is  the  case,  and  humanity  is  put  to  every  kind  of  torture 
upon  the  rack  of  coercive  institutions  and  barbarous  cus- 
toms, it  is  sacrilege  and  rebellion,  against  reason  and  Na- 
ture, to  control  the  power  of  thought. 

When  the  proposal  of  emancipating  the  mind  from  er- 
ror is  heard,  every  one  is  consternated,  not  on  his  own 
account,  but  on  his  neighbor's,  for  he  thinks  that  truth 
would  not  be  dangerous  to  himself:  this  proves  the  recip- 
rocal and  universal  suspicion  of  others  to  be  a  general 
calumny,  which  checks  the  progress  of  reason  in  the  re- 
formation of  error,  the  removal  of  misery,  and  establish- 
-ment  of  well-being  or  happiness. 


THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE.          37 


VIRTUE 

CONSISTS  of  those  acts  or  motions  of  the  intellectu- 
alized  animal  man,  which  procure  the  well-being  of  his 
essence  or  happiness.  We  have  defined  man  to  be  a 
machine,  formed  of  corporeal  and  mental  faculties,  pos- 
sessing passions  and  reason  ;  and  the  well-being  or  es- 
sence of  this  machine  to  be  the  freedom  of  thought  and 
judgment,  to  direct  the  will,  and  absolute  liberty  to  put  it 
in  execution. 

Virtue  having  hitherto  been  placed  upon  a  false  basis, 
men  of  letters  and  not  of  ideas,  vulgarly  dubbed  philoso- 
phers, have  accumulated  error  upon  error  to  prop  it  up. 
Some  have  invented  the  most  impious  and  atrocious  per- 
sonifications, to  torment  and  torture  those  who  bow  not 
in  adoration  to  the  demon  of  their  corrupted  and  unprin- 
cipled imaginations.  These  dogmatic  and  systematic 
fools  mistook  the  semblance  for  the  principles  of  virtue, 
and.  by  this  error  they  have  confined  mankind  in  a  moral 
labyrinth,  which  demands  the  clue  of  pure  and  enlighten- 
ed, though  simple  reason,  to  extricate  them. 

The  most  important,  as  well  as  the  most  evident  and 
true  moral  axiom,  that  ever  the  human  understanding  dis- 
covered is,  that 

"  TRUE    SELF    LOVE    AND    SOCIAL  IS  THE  SAME." 

What  a  glorious  instruction  for  human  nature!  this 
with  its  own  mighty  force  destroys  all  the  colossal  and 
impious  fictions  of  theology.  Why  imagine  a  metaphy- 
sical sovereign  or  deity  to  reward  or  punish  the  being 
that  does  not  know  how  to  love,  or  do  good  to  itself? 
Every  thinking  being  imagines  it  knows  how,  and  intends, 
in  all  its  actions,  to  do  good  to  itself,  and  if  it  does  harm 
instead  of  good,  ignorance  alone  is  the  cause.  W  hy  then 
institute  metaphysical  punishments,  when  the  evil  suf- 
fered by  man,  and  caused  by  ignorance,  is,  of  itself,  a  cru- 
e\  injustice  1  Those  metaphysical  quacks,  called  theolo- 
,gists,  if  they  intended  to  cure  the  moral  ills,  arising  from 


38          THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

the  collision  of  the  passions  of  men,  should  enlighten 
and  extend  the  powers  of  judgment  ;  whereas,  by  their 
gioss  fables,  and  mental  impositions,  they  destroy  that 
judgment,  and  perpetuate  and  increase  ignorance,  the 
cause  of  all  human  ills. 

The  inventors  of  metaphysical  fictions  —  designing  the- 
oiogists  and  ignorant  speculators,  called  philosophers,  if 
they  had  possessed  a  grain  of  wisdom,  would  never  have 
transferred  the  study  of  their  own  nature,  or  self,  to  in- 
finity, because  that  is  incomprehensible  ;  nor  to  the  phy- 
sical scieuces  or  arts,  because  these  bear  no  appreciable 
proportion,  in  a  comparative  view  of  utility,  with,  the 
knowledge  of  self. 

Sel£  then,  is  the  only  subject  worthy  the  study  of 
man.  The  arts  and  sciences  should  be  left,  to  mere  men 
of  knowledge.  Self  if  considered  as  isolated,  appears 
to  be  in  a  state  incompatible  with  well-being  or  full  ex- 
istence. The  impotence  of  man,  in  a  state  of  infancy, 
demands  the  aid  of  parents  ;  the  passion  of  hunger 
would  be  more  painful  ;  the  passion  of  lust  without  grati- 
fication ;  the  passion  for  life  insecure,  and  the  affections 
of  sympathy  unknown;  and  no  approximation  could  be 
made  to  an  intellectual  existence.  Self,  therefore,  must 
be  considered  in  a  state  of  society,  and  society  must  pro- 
cure the  well-being  of  its  members.  Should  any  mem- 
ber through  ignorance,  the  cause  of  moral  malady,  be- 
come an  ulcer,  it  must  be  healed  by  applying  to  it  the 
balm  of  wisdom,  and  if  this  succeed  not,  coercion  must 
be  applied  ;  should  coercion  be  unsuccessful,  the  member 
must  be  amputated,  or  destroyed  and  thrown,  like  the 
potter's  ill-moulded  clay,  into  the  general  mass,  to  be 
re-kncaded  with  it,  and  to  be  cast  and  returned  into  a 
happier  combination. 

Wisdom,  in  its  operation  to  gain  the  knowledge  of  self, 
must  begin  with  the  mental  faculties,  and  by  discovering 
the  means  to  exercise  them,  and  executing  their  functions, 
their  primuni  mobile,  or  active  moral  force  will  be  estab- 
lished. 


* 


THE   OBJECTS    OF   SOCIETT.  39 

The  understanding,  by  taking  a  view  of  the  past  and 
the  present,  is  enabled  to  anticipate  the  future ;  and  to 
respect  the  wise  axioms; 

A  less  present  pleasure  is  to  be  given  up,  in  order  to  obtain 
a  greater  in  future. 

A  less  present  yain  is  to  be  borne,  in  order  to  avoid  a 
greater  in  future. 

The  volition  of  man  may  be  guided  to  will  no  more  or 
less  than  procures  his  well-being ;  [including  of  course 
its  eternal  connection  with  all  sensitive  existence.] 

This  volition  thus  formed,  must  be  executed;  and 
whatever  promotes  it  is  good,  and  whatever  impedes  it 
is  evil  or  bad. 

^ociety  is  formed  to  enable  men  to  execute,  with  more 
efficacy  and  liberty,  their  particular  volitions;  and  yet  it 
is  impossible  to  conceive  a  society,  which,  formed  of  in- 
dividuals whose  partial  volitions  are  regulated  by  perfect 
and  sound  understanding,  should  be  able  to  establish  a 
general  or  social  volition,  that  could  restrain  the  will  of 
any  of  its  members. 

Society  in  its  origin  was,  probably,  of  this  naiure,  and 
began  with  an  individual  family,  whose  increase  gradual- 
ly estranged  its  members,  and  becoming  too  numerous 
for  subsistence  thay  separated.  vVith  this  separation 
commenced  the  era  of  moral  evil. 

The  mind  in  the  infancy  of  the  world  possessed  only 
instinctive  powers,  and  when  men  were  assaulted  by 
hard  necessity  or  want,  they  had  not  sufficient  power  to 
anticipate,  or  look  into  futurity,  and  therefore  obeyed 
their  first  volition  :  thus  began  contest,  violence  and 
murder. 

Several  societies  were  progressively  established,  and 
though  the  instinctive  operations  of  tbs  mind  enabled 
self  to  extend  to  the  contracted  circle  of  a  small  paren- 
tal society,  and  to  prefer  general  and  future  to  partial  and 
present  conveniences;  yet  it  had  not  power  to  go  beyond 
this  circle.  This  separation  of  societies  brought  on  a 
moral  pestilence,  which  ended  in' universal  and  internal 


40       THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

infection,  and  violence  abroad,  engendering  violence  at 
home ,  the  demon  coercion  was  called  upon  to  assist 
mankind  in  the  civil  wars  of  ignorance,  and  has  so  well 
established  its  own  power,  that  it  has  reduced  ignorance 
to  be  a  tributary  potentate,  and  maintains  the  security  of 
its  throne  by  the  aid  of  this,  the  worst  enemy  of  man- 
kind. 

What  a  melancholy  prospect  is  furnished  by  the  hos- 
tile operations  of  this  universal  enemy  to  human  nature, 
IGNORANCE. 

All  men  are  in  pursuit  of  the  same  two  objects — hap- 
piness and  truth  ;  and  ignorance  is  constantly  employed 
to  conceal  them  from  the  pursuers. 

"  Moral  truth,"  says  ignorance,  or  its  advocates,  priests 
and  false  philosophers,  "  is  incomprehensible  or  imagin- 
ary, and  happiness  is  unattainable  in  this  lite.""  They  hold 
the  language  of  folly  and  falsehood.  Moral  truth  is  the 
just  association  of  ideas;  and  a  nice  calculation  respect- 
ing future  pain  and  pleasure,  is  formed  from  these  ideas 
by  judgment,  in  order  to  decide  the  volition  to  action. 
Happiness  is  the  state  acquired  by  such  operations  of 
the  understanding  and  passions — it  is  the  habit  of  pleas- 
ing emotion,  in  passing  from  one  enjoyment  or  pleasure 
to  another. 

How  heart-cheering  is  the  reflection,  that  wisdom  is 
«elf-knowledge,  and  virtue  is  self-love !  Self-knowledge 
must  precede  self-love,  and  it  may  be  attained  without 
the  aid  of  learning  or  art.  Habits  of  solitude,  contem- 
plation and  meditation,  cannot  fail  to  produce  it  in  the 
weakest  understandings,  if  they  are  long  enough  contin- 
ued. They  should,  however,  be  frequently  interrupted 
by  social  enjoyments,  lest  the  understanding  should  be 
impaired  instead  of  strengthened,  and  disgust  terrify  the 
mind  so  as  to  prevent  all  inclination  for  the  alternate  en- 
joyments of  solitude  and  society,  which  confer  on  each 
other  a  reciprocal  zest,  and  render  man  a  more  amiable 
guest,  in  proportion  as  he  advances  by  me'ans  of  medita- 
tion towards  intellectual  existence,  or  knowledge  oi 
self. 


VIRTUE    OR   SELF   LOVE,  41 

Virtue  is  the  conformation  of  the  volition  a?n<$  judg- 
ment in  the  action  of  man,  to  procure  happiness  to  self, 
and  is  subject,  like  the  other  cardinal  principles  of  well- 
being,  to  a  general  standard. 

It  is  an  absolute  truth,  that  no  man  can  perform  a  vo- 
luntary act  against  the  sovereignty  or  happiness  of  self; 
and  the  being  that  murders  self,  does  it  to  avoid  misery, 
or  to  obtain  happiness. 

The  man  who  puts  aliment  into  his  body  to  preserve  it, 
has  the  same  motive  as  the  man  who  thrusts  a  knife  into 
it  to  destroy  it — the  former  acts  to  promote  its  pleasure, 
the  other  to  obviate  its  pain  ;  but  they  are  not  in  an  equal 
degree  virtuous  or  happy,  (for  the  words  are  synonimous) 
their  virtue  must  be  judged  of  by  circumstances.  Was 
the  suicide  placed  in  the  prison  of  the  inquisition,  from 
which  there  was  no  escape,  it  would  be  more  virtuous  in 
him  to  destroy,  than  to  nourish  himself;  and  the  man 
who  in  such  a  predicament  should  take  aliment,  would 
be  a  coward  and  a  traitor  to  self,  considered  as  a  part  ot 
the  great  integer  of  Nature,  entrusted  with  the  manage- 
ment and  conduct  of  a  certain  proportion  of  matter, 
which  it  becomes  an  easy,  though  sacred  duly  to  take  care 
of,  and  advance  in  a  right  line  to  happiness,  either  by 
support  or  dissolution.  Dissolution  is  the  entrance  into 
new  life,  and  not  death,  which  conveys  a  painful  and 
false  idea ;  for  till  we  can  conceive  a  period  to  the  con- 
nection between  us  arid  Nature,  death  can  mean  nothing 
but  a  new  mode  of  connection. 

The  virtuous  man  is  he  who  gives  the  most,  happiness 
to  the  whole  moral  system,  regarding  self  as  the  centre, 
which  through  the  radii  of  sympathy  comprehends  the 
circle  or  orbit  of  all  sensitive  Nature.  A  being  who 
shall  cause,  or  permit  any  violence  to  any  part  of  sensi- 
tive Nature,  has  not  yet  reached  the  system  of  intellec- 
tual existence,  and  the  man  who  puts  a  bridle  in  the 
mouth  of  a  horse,  however  he  may  justify  his  conduct, 
by  necessity  and  custom,  is  but  upon  the  low  scale  oi 
being,  or  animal  existence. 


42         THE  REVELATION  OP  NATURE. 

That  man  only,  reaches  the  summit  of  the  scale  of  es- 
sence, or  intellectual  existence,  who  dreads  to  impose  his 
will  by  violence,  when  he  cannot  by  persuasion  assimi- 
late it  to  that  of  his  fellow-creature,  and  disclaims,  as 
totally  unnecessary  td  the  well-being  of  the  human  spe- 
cies, all  intercourse  with  the  brute  creation.  For,  their 
unknown  and  unintelligible  pains  caused  by  human  co- 
*  ercion,  so  agitate  the  chain  of  connections  of  matter  and 
Nature,  that  we  prepare  dreadful  evil  for  our  own  con- 
nection, which  must  no  doubt,  in  the  eternal  revolution, 
pass  through  those  animal  ducts  or  identities  of  brutes. 

Sympathy,  or  the  affection  that  participates  in  the  pain 
suffered  by  our  fellow-animals,  is  the  all  of  virtue.  Pre- 
tended duties  Lave  been  imposed  by  the  arbitrary  institu- 
tions of  cunning  and  powerful  men,  in  order  to  subju- 
gate to  their  will,  the  great  body  of  the  people,  under 
the  pretext  of  enabling  them  to  contend  with  hostile  na- 
tions ;  these  "  duties"  are  enemies  to  individual  happi- 
ness, and  therefore  are  vices. 

Did  these  bodies  of  people,  who  are  organized  by  in- 
stitutions that  demand  the  sacrifice  of  individual  liberty 
and  happiness  to  the  security  of  existence,  labor  to  con- 
ciliate political  enmities,  by  disseminating  wisdom,  and 
opening  virtuous  communications,  I  should  then  bear  pa- 
tiently the  present  misery  of  nations,  in  hopes  of  a  hap- 
pier futurity.  But  as  the  great,  who  administer  the  pow- 
er of  nations,  make  no  such  attempts,  governments  ap- 
pear to  me,  to  be  intoxicated  with  the  love  of  dominion, 
which  entails  misery  on  themselves  and  their  subjects  ; 
and  they  are  as  much  the  dupes  of  the  passions  of  pride 
and  ambition,  as  the  miser  is  of  avarice,  who  stands 
over  his  hoard  agitated  with  ambiguous  emotions  of  pain 
and  pleasure,  blinded  by  ignorance,  which  prevents  him 
from  putting  it  to  a  proper  use.  Thus  is  it  with  power, 
which  would  be  the  cause  of  happiness,  if  the  hereditarj 
error  and  prejudices  of  mankind  did  not  induce  them  to 
imitate  the  ignorant  conduct  of  the  wretched  miser,  and 
regard  the  accumulation  rather  than  the  use  of  their  fa- 
vorite hoards* 


THE  KEVELATION    OF   NATURE. 

To  assist  these  meditations,  these  pages,  I  fcope,  will 
be  useful ;  if  not,  I  must  recommend  the  writings  of 
Hume,  Voltaire,  Bolingbroke,  Rousseau,  and  last  of  all 
Mirabaud  [D'Holbach,]  who  has  completed  the  destruc- 
tion of  error  in  his  System  of  Nature  :  and  when,  con- 
versant with  these  writings,  the  mind  shall  be  purged  of 
its  errors  and  prejudices,  these  pages  will,  I  trust,  be  use 
ful  to  introduce  it  to  a  system  of  wisdom  and  happiness. 

WISDOM, 

Is  the  internal  operation  of  the  mental  faculties,  as 
knowledge  is  the  external.  In  the  first,  the  mind  returns 
upon  itself  immediately  when  it  receives  an  alarm  front 
the  passions,  or  impression  from  the  senses.  When  the 
passion  of  hunger,  for  example,  agita'tes  the  machine  man, 
and  he  finds  a  fruit  he  never  saw  before,  the  first  volition 
he  forms  is  to  eat  it;  hut  judgment  immediately  arrests 
it  by  the  following  reflections  : — I  know  not  whether  it 
is  congenial  to  my  nature,  and  that,  while  it  allays  or 
gratifies  the  passion  of  hunger,  it  may  not  be  noxious  to 
my  essence  by  causing  disease,  or  dangerous  to  its  exis- 
tence, being  a  poison  to  cause  death.  In  consequence  of 
this  reasoning,  the  volition  of  the  animal  is  changed,  and 
he  goes  in  pursuit  of  other  food,  reserving  this  for  expe- 
riment, by  eating  it  gradually,  and  observing  its  innocent 
or  noxious  effects.  In  a  similar  manner  all  the  passions 
are  cited  to  the  tribunal  of  judgment,  and  tried  by  the 
succinct  and  universal  CODE  OF  MORAL  LAW  : 

Prefer  a  greater  pleasure  in  futurity  to  a  less  pleasure 
in  time  present : 

Suffer  a  less  pain  in  time  present,  to  avoid  a  greater  in 
futurity. 

This  internal  operation  of  the  mental  faculties  upon 
Belf  is  called  wisdom. 

Wisdom  is  that  quality  of  the  mind  that  guides  the 
volition  of  man  in  a  right  Hue  to  his  well-being  or  hap* 


44 


THE   REVELATION    OF  NATURE. 


pi  ness,  by  taking  a  large  and  comprehensive  view  of  the 
past  and  present,  and  by  a  just  and  accurate  association 
of  pure,  unprejudiced  ideas  that  arise  in  the  contempla- 
tion, to  judge  of  the  future,  and  prepare  such  causes  as 
mny,  in  the  greatest  probability,  produce  the  desired 
effects. 

In  the  labyrinth  of  error,  when  contemplation  pene- 
trates, practice  constantly  breaks  the  clue  of  speculation, 
and  prevents  man  from  arriving  at  the  exit  for  hap- 
piness. 

Wisdom,  when  unembarrassed  by  the  prejudices  of 
education  and  custom,  should  lead  contemplation  to  avoid 
the  violent  frictions  of  practice,  and  having  carried  the 
clue  of  theory  safe  to  the  exit,  practice  will  of  itself  fol- 
low, and  humanity  will  be  extricated  from  the  dark  dic- 
tates of  error  and  ignorance. 

The  mystic  point  of  union  of  speculation  with  prac- 
tice can  never  be  determined ;  wisdom  imperceptibly 
guides  the  mind  to  this  union:  but  though  the  progress 
is  comparatively  as  little  discernable  as  in  vegetation  is 
that  of  the  seed  to  its  tree,  it  is  equally  active,  and  as  ulti- 
mately certain. 

A  man  who  may,  upon  full  conviction,  adopt  the  reli- 
gion of  Nature,  will  not  recommend  to  the  government 
to  annihilate  its  coercive  powers,  civil  and  military,  but 
"will  recommend  the  improvement pf  education,  the  pro- 
mulgation of  that,  useful  knowledg|  which  leads  to  wis- 
dom, and  then  the  association  of  e^ery  member  in  a  state 
of  democracy,  where  the  odious  an<]  humiliating  name  of 
subject  is  changed  to  the  equitable  and  honorable  appel- 
lation of  citizen,  who  will  claim  his  natural  rights  the 
moment  wisdom  arrives  to  intellectualize  his  essence* 

The  child  of  Nature  will  not  recommend  to  a  parent 
the  dereliction  of  tutelary  defensive  authority  over  his 
children,  but  will  explain  to  him,  that  being  the  author  of 
their  existence,  he  is  bound  to  render  that  existence  hap- 
py; and  that  the  pretext  of  custom  does  not  justify  the 
parent  in  acts  of  tyranny  or  torment,  to  resemble  a  cruel 
task-master. 


THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE.          45 

The  same  humanity  and  liberality  he  will  inculcate  in- 
to masters,  without  destroying  the  bonds  of  subordina- 
tion; and  these  virtues  he  will  recommend  to  the  prac- 
tice of  every  individual  in  the  mutual  toleration  of  weak- 
nesses and  foibles,  without  removing  the  restraints  laid 
on  vice,  and  the  encouragements  offered  to  virtue,  by 
abolishing  the  blame  or  applause  which  the  customs  of 
society  attach  to  them;  and  lastly,  all  these  virtues  he 
will  sum  up  in  the  universal  affection  of  sympathy  to  all 
sensitive  Nature. 


KNOWLEDGE 


Is  the  effect  of  the  intellectual  faculties  externally  ap- 
plied in  the  arts  and  sciences,  to  procure  the  means  of 
corporeal  subsistence,  well-being  arid  health.  Agricul- 
ture and  medicine  occupy  the  first  rank  in  the  operations 
or  scale  of  knowledge,  and  all  other  branches  or  works 


of  art  follow,  in  proportion  as  they  procure  means  to 
gratify  the  pleasures  of  the  senses,  and  increase  the  com- 
fort of  animal  existence  ;  contrivances  of  dress  and  ar- 


chitecture, to  preserve  the  bo.ly  from  the  inclemencies  of 
the  elements  ;  music  to  delight  the  sense  of  hearing  ;  and 
inventions  of  imagination,  as  oratory  and  poetry,  to 
amuse  the  mind,  and  to  make  up  the  complement  of 
pleasure,  or  well-being  of  the  animal  existence.  Knowl- 
edge is  to  wisdom,  what  food  is  to  the  body,  mere  nouri- 
ture  and  aliment;  and  as  the  body  animalizes  food  or 
matter,  so  serves  wisdom  to  intellectualize  knowledge, 
and  gives  to  the  combined  machine  intellectual  existence, 
or  knowledge  of  self. 

The  great  cause  of  the  origin  and  perpetuation  of  er- 
ror has  been  the  mistaking  the  quality  of  knowledge  for 
that  of  wisdom.  The  former  resembles  the  latter  in  all 
its  productions,  and  they  differ  only  in  their  application. 

The  operations  of  knowledge  ore  employed  upon  out- 
ward and  foreign  objects ;  but  those  of  wisdom  are  in- 
ternal, arid  applied  only  to  self.  The  greatest  efforts  of 


4(5  THE  REVEL1T10N   OF   NATURE. 

the  former  were  exerted  by  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  to  disco- 
ver the  physical  laws  of  bodies;  but  when  he  attempted 
to  make  use  of  the  latter  to  make  discoveries  in  the  mo- 
ral world,  he  became  an  eminent  example  of  deficiency 
in  the  quality  of  wisdom,  and  proved  its  great  difference 
from  knowledge.  Mankind,  however,  had  long  been 
used  to  confound  them,  and  Newton  was  immortalized, 
though  all  his  works  produced  not  a  grain  of  utility  to 
the  well-being  of  man. 

The  shoals  of  error  seem  so  to  have  empoisoned  the 
stream  of  wisdom,  ihat  knowledge  is  wholly  employed 
to  keep  man  from  approximating  its  source,  lest  before 
he  can  arrive  at  it,  the  draught  of  this  adulterated  stream 
on  his  passage,  should  destroy  him.  These  fears  caa 
never  be  dispelled  till  some  mortal  shall  set  the  success 
ful  example,  and  having  discovered  the  source,  may  turn 
the  current  from  the  letiferous  soil  of  prejudice,  that  in- 
fects its  waters,  to  the  pure  and  wholesome  channel  of 
truth,  when  every  draught  will  invigorate  the  traveller 
upon  its  banks,  and  give  him  strength  in  proportion  to 
the  labor  he  undergoes  to  arrive  at  the  fountain  of  wis- 
dom. 

What  destructive  apothegms  folly  and  error  have  inven- 
ted to  guard  the  access  of  this  fountain  of  light  and  hap- 
piness ! 

"  The  people  must  be  kept  in  ignorance." 
"Truth  is  dangerous  to  the  happiness  of  mankind." 
These  are  the  infernal   falsehoods  from  which  are  de- 
rived the  origin  and  perpetuation  of  ignorance,  the  cause 
of  all  misery. 

Speculative  or  abstract  truth  is  irrefragably  and  eter- 
nally right,  and  its  practice  is  right  or  wrong,  in  pro- 
portion as  it  is  [or  is  not]  skilfully  reduced  to  operation 
and  exercise. 

What  man  of  even  superior  animal  existence,  but 
knows  and  avows,  that  the  trade  and  practice  of  slavery 
In  America  is  an  infernal  and  abominable  crime?  yet  he 
would  not  immediately  cast  off  their  chains,  lest  the  dis- 
orders produced  by  the  intoxication  of  liberty  in  minds 

J^  • ' 
' 


THE  OBJECTS  OF  SOCIETY.  47 

whose  volition  are  uncontrolled  by  judgment,  should  an- 
nihilate all  commerce,  and  cause  a  famine  to  destroy  all 
their  inhabitants;  bul  he  would  labor  at  a  perpetual  and 
gradual  relaxation  thereof,  which  would  approximate  the 
end,  total  emancipation.  But  the  vile  spirit  of  ignorance 
and  avaricr  declaims  against  all  reform,  as  being  danger- 
ous both  to  slaves  and  masters,  and  the  child  of  Na- 
ture is  disposed  o  n -juice  (even  though  self  is  submerg- 
ed,) at  the  accumulated  waters  of  evil,  breaking  down 
the  dikes  of  despotism  and  ignorance,  and  overwhelm- 
ing the  oppressors  and  oppressed  ;  as  the  eternal  hap- 
piness of  the  eternal  integer  of  Nature  would  be  there- 
by promoted.  This  blind  tyranny  is  the  cause  that  all 
moral  reforms  havt  been  brought  al;«>nt  by  a  dreadful  ne- 
cessity, and  procured  through  much  misery  and  blood- 
shed, as  the  history  of  the  different  revolutions  of  nations 
attests. 


INTELLECTUAL    EXISTENCE. 

THERE  is  no  renVttion  that  astonishes  the  mind  so 
much  as  that  which  arises  from  considering  man  as  not 
y<  t  arrived  at  this  period  in  the  scale  of  existence.  The 
proof  may  be  drawn  from  the  records  of  knowledge  in 
history,  and  from  conversation  with  the  individuals  of 
the  present  moment. 

The  operations  of  the  human  intellect  in  past  ages 
have  produced  nothing  but  its  external  effects,  and  know- 
ledge has  been  derived  from  the  transposing  and  combi- 
ning of  the  ideas  of  the  memory;  or,  when  exerting  it- 
self in  observing  the  operations  of  its  own  passions,  the 
mind  has  assumed  the  pompous  title  or  nick-name  of 
Philosophy  for  this  act,  because  it  bore  a  semblance  to 
internal  motion  or  reflection,  though  very  distant  from  it. 

The  modes  of  the  operations  of  the  intellect  and  the 
passions  which  knowledge  has  taken  cognizance  of,  and 
become  acquainted  with,  and  by  that  means  obtained  the 
dignified  title  of  philosophy,  are  as  easy  to  be  observed. 


48  THE  REYELATION    OF   NATURE. 

as  the  motions  of  outward  bodies,  and  their  cause  and 
effect  as  easily  known.  They  invented  rules  by  which 
the  moral  machine  man  was  to  be  directed  in  orbits  of 
well-being  or  happiness,  and  these  not  being  drawn  from 
a  central  point  of  attraction,  constantly  met  and  swal- 
lowed up  each  other.  No  one  has  either  had  resolution 
or  capacity  to  attempt  the  discovery  of  the  centre,  which 
is  self.  That  part,  independent  of  that  partial  identity  of 
I,  you,  and  they,  which  forms  the  integer  of  Nature,  and 
which  generalizes  itself  by  sympathy  with  the  whole, 
partaking  of  the  immortality  of  Nature,  and  arising  into 
the  most  perfect  state  which  man  is  capable  of,  intellec- 
tual existence,  composed  of  self  knowledge  and  self 
love,  comprehending  all  Nature.  t 

Knowledge,  as  it  has  hitherto  operated  among  man- 
kind, could  only  lead  them  to  reason  relatively :  it  had 
suborned  the  passions  by  a  specious  display  of  interest, 
and  has  served  to  perpetuate  and  establish  ignorance  and 
its  consequence,  vice.  War  with  all  its  destruction, 
was  declared  a  good,  and  violence,  which  includes  the 
centre  and  circumference  of  all  vice,  was  declared  a  vir- 
tue ;  and  the  whole  art  and  eflbrt  of  knowledge  has  been, 
and  still  continues  to  be,  to  separate  self  from  its  integer 
Nature.  The  universal  intercourse  of  matter  and  of  per- 
sonal identity  clearly  demonstrates,  that  matter  is  con- 
stantly changing  places  from  its  two  stages  of  animation 
and  inanimation,  and  the  former  being  in  motion,  can  pre- 
pare happy  identities  or  combinations  for  its  successor, 
and  the  successor  for  the  progenitor  which  in  turn  be- 
comes the  successor,  and  &o  on  in  this  eternal  revolution, 
from  animation  to  animation:  and  this  idea  is  the  only 
one  that  can  produce  intellectual  existence,  or  found  vir- 
tue on  a  comprehensible  and  immovable  basis.  \ 


THE  REVELATION  OK  NATURE,          49 


TRUTH, 

Is  two-fold,  physical  and  moral.  Physical  truth  may 
be  explained  by  bodies:  thus,  no  two  separate  bodies 
can  occupy  the  same  space,  and  two  bodies  added  to  two 
bodies  must  make  lour  bodies. 

Of  mural  truths,  1  know  but  one  that  is  absolute,  viz: 
That  the  volition  of  man  is  to  be  restrained  only  until 
be  has  acquired  judgment ;  for  while  the  restraint  of  pa- 
rents is  consistent  willi  truth,  judgment  must  be  absent 
in  the  child;  and  social  coercion  must  be  justified  on  the 
same  principle. 

While  education,  custom  and  policy,  pervert  and  de- 
stroy, as  they  do  by  the  present  institution*,  the  judg- 
ments of  mankind,  coercion  is  necessary,  and  liberty 
must  be  sacrificed  to  the  safety  of  existence. 

The  mind  under  the  influence  of  moral  truth  or  happi- 
ness, (for  they  are  synonomous  terms,)  will  abstract  it- 
self irom  all  relative  considerations  of  custom  and  pol- 
icy in  the  investigation  of  this  virtue,  and  will  hold  it  up 
as  a  luminary,  to  direct  relative  or  practical  truth  ;.n  its 
progress,  or  will  scatter  abroad  its  discoveries  and  reflec- 
tions, and  disseminate  them  as  seed  over  the  ground, 
which  must  take  root  and  grow  into  practice  as  unac- 
countably and  imperceptibly  as  the  acorn  becomes  an 
oak. 

Speculative  writers,  as  well  as  readers,  have  constant- 
ly injured  the  cause  of  truth  or  happiness,  by  instituting 
or  insisting  upon  its  immediate  practice.  Ii  would  be  as 
wise  in  the  husbandman  to  demand  the  harvest  immedi- 
ately from  the  seed,  or  the  tree  from  the  plant. 

The  difference  between  theory  and  practice  may  be 
evinced  by  considering  them  with  respect  to  the  forego* 
ing  and  only  absolute  moral  truth,  that  the  volition  of 
man  is  to  be  restrained  only  by  the  judgment  of  him  who 
forms  it,  in  order  to  procure  to  the  animal  its  well-being, 
which  is  a  state  of  enlightened  Nature. 

i't^-    ) 


50          THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

Let  us  examine  this  important  truth;  first  speculative 
]y. — Judgment,  which  by  collecting  ideas  of  the  past, 
present  and  future,  calculates  the  greatest  probability  of 
pain  and  pleasure1,  to  be  derived  from  the  act  of  the  ani- 
nul.  |)<  r>u;uks  the  first  volition  to  change  or  reform  it- 
siii ':  and  the  ultimate  volition  is  the  best  and  most  spon- 
tawous,  notwithstanding  the  apparent  restraint  of  judg- 
ment;  but  if  the  extraneous  power,  political  or  parental 
government,  forces  man  to  act  contrary  to  volition,  the 
animal  is  deprived  of  free  agency,  and  cannot  possibly 
arrive  at  a  state  of  well-being. 

Let  us  now  consider  it  practically. — If  coercion  or 
government  of  every  kind  should  cease  to  execute  this 
moral  truth  immediately,  peremptorily  and  universally,  no 
doubt  great  evil  and  confusion  would  arise ;  because, 
were  the  government  of  force  to  abdicate  its  throne  be- 
fore judgment  became  of  age,  the  inter-regnum  of  such  a 
minority  would  be  dreadful,  and  therefore  it  has  ever 
been  the  study  of  that  part  of  mankind,  who  have  usurp- 
ed a  power  over  their  fellow-creatures,  to  form  an  alli- 
ance with  another  set  of  usurpers,  called  priests,  in  or- 
der to  perpetuate,  by  means  of  false  and  trivial  instruc- 
tion, the  minority  of  judgment,  as  they  knew  that  if  it 
became  of  age,  it  would  compel  tyranny  and  ignorance  to 
abdicate  the  throne  of  reason. 

The  minds  of  weak  men  are  always  alarmed  at  the 
junction  of  practical  with  speculative  truth,  because  they 
view  it  in  the  effect  of  immediate  instead  of  mediate 
adoption,  and  view  the  gradual  relaxation  or  change  of 
the  iron  chain  of  society  into  the  silken  bonds  of  love 
and  reason,  as  a  dissolution  of  moral  existence. 

Let  us  imagine  the  establishment  of  this  speculative 
truth  in  practice,  and  consider  if  it  could  be  done  with- 
oui  giving  society  any  injurious  shock. 

'1  !>e  operation  would  begin  by  disseminating  knowl- 
ediif  among  the  people  ;  from  this  act  no  shock  or  injury 
can  be  apprehended;  knowledge,  by  being  generally  cul- 
tivated, would  produce  wisdom — wisdom  would  give  en- 
erg}'  to  the  will,  and  this  being:  universal,  would  prevent 


THE   OBSCURATION   Of   TRUTH.  51 

all  concussion,  or  injurious  shock,  but  would  claim  the 
privilege  of  partaking  in  the  legislation  ofits  own  society. 
Society  thus  extended  and  tempered  with  the  collective 
wisdom  of  a  great  nation,  would  check  the  fury  of  the 
passions,  ambition,  avarice  and  luxury,  arid  substitute  the 
affection  of  love,  justice  and  temperance  in  their  place ; 
and  the  frequent  operations  of  collective  wisdom  would 
bring  man,  in  a  short  period,  to  the  happy  state  of  en- 
lightened Nature. 

Physical  truth,  which  is  the  type  of  moral  truth,  is 
alone  manifested  to  mankind. 

Moral  truth,  being  viewed  through  the  medium  of  cus- 
tom and  education  by  men,  appears  to  them  under  differ- 
ent shapes,  and  all  attempts  to  change  the  medium  are- 
restrained  by  political  and  religious  inquisition;  and  the 
individual,  who  by  reading  things,  and  not  words,  in  the 
volume  of  Nature,  in  travelling  over  the  face  of  the  globe, 
ratifies  the  thick  medium  of  custom,  appears  a  danger- 
ous Colossus  to  puny  creatures  of  prejudice,  and  being 
dreaded  by  vanity  is  depicted  as  an  enemy  to  society, 
while  he  is  a  real  friend  to  all  Nature. 

The  dark  and  rooted  prejudice  of  mankind  nas  so 
contracted  the  standard  of  judgment,  that  an  animal  man. 
and  an  intellectual,  in  their  intercourse,  differ  as  much  as 
does  the  astronomer  from  the  carpenter  who  resembles 
the  animal  man,  by  pulling  out  his  loot-measure  to  de- 
termine the  distance  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  which  the 
former  has  calculated. 

To  illustrate  this  : — let  a  child  of  Nature,  the  standard 
of  whose  reason  is  the  diameter  of  the  circle  of  all  Na- 
ture, discourse  with  a  Spaniard,  and  arraign  the  sacrile- 
gious institutions  of  the  inquisition,  for  causing  abortion 
of  the  most  sacred  germ  of  Nature,  human  thought,  in. 
order  to  prevent  man  from  arriving  at  intellectual  exis- 
tence, or  an  enlightened  state  of  Nature.  The  Spaniard 
will  with  his  standard  of  custom,  reply  that  the  inhabi- 
tants of  his  country,  being  exceedingly  addicted  to  super- 
stition and  furious  zeal,  if  thought  was  permitted  to  be 
exercised  and  divulged,  it  would  introduce  heresy,  and 


52          THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

that  would  cause  a  dreadful  civil  war.  This  he  could 
not  prove,  and  would  be  forced  to  confess,  that  his  ap- 
prehensions might  have  no  other  foundation  than  ignor- 
ance and  interest,  which  operated  equally  with  other  na- 
tions, who  indulged  religious  but  opposed  political  reform. 
Truth  is,  therefore,  utterly  unknown  to  mankind — 
black  in  one  country  is  white  in  another — good  is  bud 
and  bad  good;  and  this  owing  to  the  medium  or  standr.rd 
of  prejudice  and  ignorance.  The  utility  of  truth  is  to  be 
found  only  in  the  equality  of  standard  and  purity  of  me- 
dium presented  by  the  religion  of  Nature. 

O  deluded  mortals!  rise  from  your  iron  beds  of  error, 
—  turn  your  regard  towards  the  moral  orient — invoke  the 
sun  of  reason  to  ascend;  those  who  excite  fears  and  ap- 
prehensions of  its  benign  rays,  are  the  robbers  of  liberty 
and  reason,  whose  designs  and  operations  suit  best  with 
the  darkness  of  the  atmosphere  of  interest  and  ignorance. 
Some  feeble  fellow  creatures  there  are,  who  like  the  cap- 
tives in  the  dungeon,  dread  the  light ;  these  are  betrayed 
by  their  fears  to  join  with  the  mitred  and  crowned  rob- 
bers that  suppress  with  calumny  all  reformers  and  with 
a  verdict  of  sedition  give  them  up,  bound  as  victims,  to 
these  legal  depredators,  and  perpetuate,  unwittingly, 
their  own  ignorance  and  misery. 

Come  then,  fellow-parts,  come  to  the  enlightened 
communion  of  your  integer,  Nature — seek  after  intellec- 
tual existence,  acquired  in  the  contemplation  of  this  un- 
ion matured  into  conviction:  this  regeneration  will  ele- 
vate you  above  animal,  as  animal  does  above  the  vege- 
table state — this  makes  happiness  systematic,  immortal- 
ity comprehensible,  and  carries  the  intellectual  faculties 
to  the  strongly-marked  barrier  of  its  boundaries— opens 
the  secrets  of  Nature  and  infinity  as  far  as  it  is  neces- 
sary to  well-being,  and  enables  man  to  fill  up  the  pleni- 
tude of  his  essence,  and  all  of  existence,  and  to  run  his 
course  in  the  great  orbit  of  Nature  with  tranquillity,  re- 
signation, and  happiness,  and  to  arrive  at  the  periods  of 
change,  or  renovation  of  form,  without  terror,  or  pain.and 
sleep,  as  it  were,  into  the  euthanasy  of  a  happier  existence. 


THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE.          53 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  NATURE 


CONSISTS  in  the  example  and  instruction  of  seniors 
to  youth,  to  remove  all  dangerous  inclinations  to  be 
wicked  before  judgment  assumes  its  maturity,  or  to  vio- 
late the  liberty  of  our  fellow-creatures,  or  to  confound  or 
suppress  the  maturity  of  judgment,  by  uttering  falsehoods 
to  corrupt  and  mislead  it. 

Parents  are  to  be  separated  from  their  children  as 
soon  as  judgment  makes  its  appearance  and  Nature  de- 
mands no  longer  parental  care,  lesl  the  aflcctionatp  in- 
tercourse may  tend  to  weaken  the  social  habitudes,  and 
prevent  them  from  extending  self  into  the  comprehensive 
and  ample  existence  of  the  orbit  of  Nature,  the  univer- 
sal and  common  parent,  who  testifies  the  relation  of  hu- 
manity to  supercede  all  other.  While  the  mild  and  in- 
nocent example  of  seniors  are  guarding  the  passions  from 
the  evil  propensities  of  violence  in  the  early  period  of  in- 
fancy, sports  and  pastimes  are  to  be  taught,  that  may 
give  vigor,  health  and  comeliness  to  the  body.  These 
bodily  sports  may  be  connected  at  the  age  of  maturity, 
[puberty,]  with  mental  amusements,  as  poetry,  logic, 
music,  painting,  and  mechanic  arts.  In  all  mental  in- 
structions, the  will  is  to  be  led  to  them,  and  coercion  of 
every  kind  must  be  unknown.  Pleasure,  both  mental 
and  corporeal  of  every  kind,  controlled  by  wisdom,  is 
to  be  cultivated  as  flie  great  object  of  lift.-,  and  to  b< 
measured  by  judgment,  improved  and  extended  by  reason 
and  reflection. 

Children  are  to  mix  with  all  the  members  of  society, 
and  parents  are  to  withdraw  themselves  from  all  partial 
attentions,  and  the  least  partiality  is  to  be  guarded  against, 
as  an  enemy  to  society.  The  example  of  seniors  is  to  be 
the  whole  code  of  instruction,  in  doing  no  violence  and 
speaking  no  falsehood — but  taking  care  that  the  mouth 
is  a  faithful  interpreter  of  the  heart.  The  religion  of 


54          THE  REVELATION  OP  NATURE. 

Nature,  morality  and  polity  will  be  afterwards  communi- 
cated at  an  adult  age,  by  the  examples  and  conversation 
of  society. 

As  cultivation  in  agriculture  improves  the  vegetable, 
so  does  education  improve  the  moral  world.  The  pre- 
sent mode,  like  every  other  part  of  the  moral  system,  ia 
measured  and  adjusted  by  the  short  standard  of  relative 
truth. 

Philology  or  language  is  the  universal  subject  of  study 
and  instruction,  for  two  reasons  : 

First,  as  it  furnishes  a  key  to  unlock  the  treasures  of 
knowledge,  contained,  according  to  the  present  fixed,  and 
therefore  sacred  opinion,  in  the  ancient  authors  of  sci- 
ence and  history ; 

And  second,  as  enabling  the  student  to  improve  the 
powers  of  speech,  by  which  he  may  inculcate,  explain  and 
convince  others  of  the  truth  of  those  ideas  or  knowledge, 
which  habit  and  ignorance  have  called  the  wisdom  of  an- 
tiquity. 

This  blind  adoption  of  the  ideas  of  the  ancients  proves, 
that  many  moderns  possess  not  the  capacity  of  forming 
new  ideas;  for  a  man  of  the  least  strength  of  mental 
faculties  must  discover,  that  as  time  in  its  progress  chan- 
ges universally  the  circumstances  of  life,  the  idea  that 
was  wise  yesterday,  may  be  folly  to-day,  as  it  does  not 
coincide  with  tbe  new  events  of  the  new  era ;  and  it  is 
this  blind  veneration  for  antiquity,  that  is  both  the  origin 
and  perpetuation  of  the  present  ignorance  of  mankind; 
for  if  the  reasoning  faculty  of  man  had  been  well  directed 
by  education,  it  must,  profiting  of  the  boundless  experi- 
ence of  past  ages,  have  long  ago  arrived  at  the  acme  of 
its  perfection. 

The  present  detestable  mode  of  beating  the  absurd 
ideas  of  the  ancients  into  the  posteriors,  because  Nature, 

rntaneously  improving,  refuses  them  admittance  into 
head,   must  be  changed.     The  birchen   scepters  ot 
tyrant  and  ignorant  pedagogues  must  be  broken,  and  vir- 
tuous, wise  and  amiable   associates   must  assume  their 
places     instruction   should  be   instilled  into  the  mind 


THE   REVELATION    OP   NATURE. 

voluntarily  and,  as  it  were,  imperceptibly,  of  which 
sports  and  pastimes  should  be  the  chief  medium.  Gym- 
nastic exercises,  and  the  early  practice  of  ethics,  or  sym- 
pathy and  probity,  should  form  the  whole  code  of  in- 
struction to  the  age  of  maturity,  [puberty ;}  and  then 
philology  should  be  admitted  in  the  vernacular  language 
only.  Those  wonderful  productions  of  human  ingenui- 
ty, the  Latin  and  Greek  languages,  should  be  studied  at 
in  adult  age,  not  for  what  they  contain,  but  for  their  un- 
paralleled perfection,*  which  reduces  all  modem  langua- 
ges, in  comparison,  to  the  most  contemptible  jargons. 
They  should  become  the  lingua  Franca  of  the  world,  and 
as  their  very  sound  seems  sense,  what  would  be  the  effect 
of  sense  or  reason,  when  communicated  with  their  irrcsis* 
tible  eloquence?  It  would  certainly  produce  the  unity  o£ 
ideas,  the  unity  of  association,  the  unity  of  religion,  and 
the  last  and  perfect  unity  in  the  integer  of  Nature,  the 
acme  of  human  perfection. 


THE  MORALITY  OF  NATURE 


CONSISTS  in  the  means  of  procuring  happiness  or 
well-being  to  self,  as  generalized  with  society.  The 
pleasures  of  the  senses  are  particularly  to  be  cultivated, 
and  are  to  be  directed  by  the  following  important  and 
universal  axioms  : 

GlVE  UP  A  LESS  PRESENT  PLEASURE  FOR  A  GREATER 
FUTURE. 

SUFFER  A  LESS  PRESENT  EVIL  TO  AVOID  A  GREATER 

FUTURE. 

To  follow  these  axioms,  the  volition  must  be  guided 
by  an  anticipative  and  reflective  judgment  that  sees  into 
futurity,  and  by  a  power  or  accuracy  of  decision,  called 
taste,  to  transfer  sensual  pleasure  to  intellectual  joy. 

To  illustrate  these  operations  of  the  judgment,  I  will 
adduce  examples  borrowed  from  civilized  society.  To 
explain  the  first  axiom,  let  us  suppose  a  man  possessed 
16 


56          THE  REVELATION  OF  MATURE. 

of  a  yearly  income  of  five  hundred  pounds.  Should  ftc 
spend  it  all  in  one  day,  he  will  no  doubt  augment  the 
sensual  pleasures  of  that  day,  but  the  three  hundred  and 
sixty-four  following  will  be  days  of  pain;  judgment 
brings  this  calcination  to  the  conception  of  the  mind, 
and  the  volition  is  regulated  1o  economize  pleasure,  and 
perpetuate  it  by  forbearance  to  the  year's  end. 

The  second  axiom  may  be  explained  by  the  pleasure  of 
helping  our  guests  to  the  be:?t  of  the  repast  at  a  convi- 
vial board  ;  for  ihc  esteem  and  affection  that  affability 
and  hospitality  obtain  from  surrounding  guests,  in  declin- 
ing the  best,  and  taking  the  less  delicious  parts  of  the 
viands,  confer  an  intellectual  comfort  and  complacency, 
that,  is  of  infinitely  more  value  than  the  sensual  plea- 
sure which  the  palate  would  obtain  by  the  mastication 
of  those  morsels. 

Self  being  a  part  of  Nature,  organized,  diversified 
and  identified,  though  by  no  means  separated  from  itg 
integer,  for  that  is  impossible,  it  will  never  be  directed 
by  judgment  to  forego  what  is  essential  to  its  happiness, 
in  order  to  promote  that  of  another  part  of  the  same 
integer;*  for  suppose  that  I  am  starving,  and  a  fellow- 


*  On  this  important  subject  all  the  powers  of  mind  are  to  be  ex- 
ercised to  calculate  how  far  the  happiness  or  existence  of  self  are 
to  be  apparently  or  momentarily  encroached  upon,  in  order  to 
promote  that  of  a  fellow-creature,  which  must  ever  co-operate 
w'nh  our  own  ;  and  considered  relatively  to  the  common  integer, 
Nature,  be  ultimately  all  our  own. 

Man  may,  in  his  relation  to  Nature,  promote  the  happiness  of 
self,  by  sacrificing  the  identity  or  existence  of  self,  as  is  the  case  of 
a  tyrant,  who  having  subdued  twenty  millions  of  fellow-creatures 
^continues  to  render  them  miserable  by  despotism  and  cruelty.  It 
would  be  the  interest  of  any  self  or  identity  to  put  him  to  death, 
though  the  end  of  its  own  existence  might  follow ;  for  having 
removed  a  great  proportion  of  evil  from  identity  or  existence  of 
a  great  proportion  of  animated  matter— self  as  a  part  of  Nature, 
would,  on  its  return  to  Jife  under  different  combinations,  meet 
with  less  eril. 


THE  MORALITY  OF  NATURE.  57 

creature  demands  from  me  the  food  which  I  cannot  part 
with  without  annihilating  my  essence ;  I  must  then  keep 
the  food,  and  though  I  should  suffer  much  pain  by  sym- 
pathizing with  that  of  my  fellow-creature,  yet  judgment 
would  never  direct  me  to  my  own  destruction,  and  de- 
mands from  me  no  suffering,  but  an  augmentation  of 
pleasure  by  relieving  my  fellow-creature,  by  means  not 
dangerous  to  existence,  or  destructive  of  self  happiness. 
There  are  instances,  however,  where  a  sound  and  capa- 
cious judgment  would  counsel  dissolution,  and  encourage 
man  to  annihilate  the  combination  of  bis  essence,  by  his 
own  powers  over  life.  Such  are  incurable  disorders 
causing  incessant  pain,  either  of  the  mind  or  of  the  body: 
but,  as  in  the  first  instance,  the  loss  of  judgment  deprives 
the  man  of  ability  to  put  an  end  to  his  existence,  it  be- 
comes the  interest  of  society  to  do  it,  who  are  to  protect 
all  animate  combinations  of  matter  from  misery — to  keep 
in  order  identities,  which  resembling  inns  upon  the  road 
of  life,  to  receive  matter  in  its  travelling  revolutions,  must 
be  provided  with  every  comfort.  In  the  latter  instance, 
where  man  suffers  uninterrupted  and  excruciating  bodily 
pain  from  disease,  and  where  the  judgment  remains,  he 
should  authorize  a  fellow  creature  to  give  him  relief,  or 
seek  it  by  precipitating  himself  into  the  arms  of  death  or 
flew  existence. 

All  the  actions  of  man,  directed  by  judgment,  must 
promise  to  be  useful  to,  or  propose  happiness  to  self; 
and  the  laws  of  moral  motion  have  reuilered  it  impossi- 
ble for  the  animal  to  perform  any  act,  in  which  it  does 
not  propose  its  own  well-being,  which  proves  and  evin- 
ces sulf  to  be  the  centre  of  moral  gravitation  or  attrac- 
tion, by  whose  powers  the  different  animated  and  inte!- 
lectualized  bodies  are  directed  in  orbits,  winch  procure 
tbe  m-ora-l  system  or  well-being  and  happiness  of  anima- 
ted matter. 

The  present  moral  world  is  in  a  state  of  chaos;  every 
intdlectualized  body,  attracted  by  a  partial  centre,  rolls 
in  wild  confusion  in  the  moral  regions,  and  by  perpetual 
and  destructive  collision  opposes  and  annihilates  all  sys- 
tem of  well-being  and  happiness. 


58          THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

There  is,  however,  at  this  period,  a  ray  of  light  aris- 
*ng  from  the  horizon  of  knowledge,  which  promises  to 
oelong  to  the  glorious  sun  of  wisdom,  approaching  the 
moral  hemisphere,  which  by  discoYering  the  union  of  self 
with  Nature,  will  give  happiness  to  the  moral  world,  by 
attracting  the  various  setts  into  the  common  and  univer- 
sal centre  of  Nature,  even  as  the  physical  sun  diffuses 
light  and  warmth  to  this  planetary  system. 

In  such  a  moral  world,  regulated  by  wisdom,  and  mov- 
ed by  universal  sympathy,  his  horse  is  as  nearly  related 
to  man  as  his  child,  [in  proportion  as  their  capability  for 
pleasure  and  pain  is  equal ;]  and  violence  committed  up- 
on ither  is  violence  done  to  self,  and  to  Nature,  the 
great  integer  of  self;  nay  the  injury  is  greater  when  ap- 
plied to  the  horse,  as  he  possesses  not  the  same  power 
of  language,  or  signs  to  affect  sympathy,  which  shakes 
the  great  chain  of  Nature,  by  whose  links  all  essences 
are  united.  Therefore,  the  sensitive  part  of  Nature, 
called  horse,  may  suffer  excruciating  torments  from  our 
actions,  without  the  least  hopes  of  relief^  whereas  the 
indifference  towards  children  is  not  so  dangerous  to  the 
integral  happiness,  because  the  signs  of  language  and  in- 
dications of  gesture  shake  with  violence  and  perpetuity 
the  chain  of  sympathy,  and  by  giving  constant  alarm  at 
the  approach  of  the  great  and  only  enemy  of  Nature,  vio- 
lence, they  urge  man  to  the  immediate  relief  of  pain. 

Sympathy  and  wisdom  have  a  reciprocal  foi-ce  to  keep 
man  in  the  universal  centre  of  Nature.  The  former  de- 
monstrates a  present  connection,  though  under  a  different 
identity,  and  wisdom  teaches  that  upon  the  dissolution  of 
that  identity,  man  still  continues  to  be  a  part  of  Na- 
ture, though  assuming  fresh  identities,  and  that  in  remov- 
ing present  evil  from  others,  he  removes  present  and  fu- 
ture evil  from  himself,  and  demonstrates  the  one,  only  and 
comprehensive  principle  of  the  morality  of  Nature  to  be, 

WlLL  FOR  YOURSELF  ALONE,  AND  ASSOCIATE  THE  WILL 
OF  OTHERS  BY  PERSUASION  J 

And  the  man  who  moves  his  volition  or  arm  to  vio- 
lence, is  a  rebel  against  Nature,  and  a  traitor  to  self,  and 
has  not  yet  arrived  at  the  state  of  intellectual  existence. 
(M#£»T3N  U.£*  £/  njewt  &j*»**€i-<t,*^at.- ••/&&}•    ?&t  *t-4u4< 

*  fatefi*t£**»  /«// 

&***&**  &•**<*  fa^&&* 

i  „  'jfc^  . .  -  f-      /!<  j***.. 


THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE.  59 

The  morality  of  Nature,  comprehending  wisdom,  vir 
tue,  truth  and  happiness,  as  already  defined  in  tins  work, 
forms  the  unitary,  comprehensive    and  succinct  code.—* 
"Will  for  yourself,"  explained  in  as  succinct  a  commen- 
tary, (sympathy  and  probity,)  offers   no  mode  of  connec- 
tion or  compromise  with  the  present   system  of  relative 
morality  ;  therefore  I  scatter  it  with  the  rest  of  the  unac- 
commodating tenets  in  this  work,  into  the  soil  of  the  hu- 
man mind  ;  and  though  I  possess  not   the  means  of  elo- 
quence to  impress  it  deep,  to  prevent  the  blasts  of  preju- 
dice, or  the  rapacious  vultures  of  interest   from  destroy- 
ing it ;  yet  I  trust  to  hazard,  that  if  only  one  seed  among 
the  many  should   find   congenial    soil,   and  take  root,  its 
product  will  spread  to  the  boundaries  of  the  earth.     This 
metaphor  of  vegetation  may  arrest  the  curiosity  of  those 
who  demand  the  mode  of  introducing  such   novel  theory 
to  practice,  and  they  may  rest   satisfied,   that  no  ray  of 
moral  truth  can  ever  be   lost ;  for  in  proportion   to  its 
evidence  and  importance,  it  forces  conviction,  which  im- 
perceptibly produces  sentiment,   and   sentiment  action, 
and  this  is  the  progress  of  all  novel  and  important  theo- 
ry to  the  goal  of  practice. 


THE  SCIENCE  OP  NATURE 

EMPLOYS  the  intellectual  faculties  in  contriving  means 
to  produce  subsistence,  and  to  promote  and  multiply  the 
means  of  pleasure  of  all  animated  Nature.  The  mind  in 
these  exercises  acquires  force,  moving  by  these  efforts, 
at  first  outwardly,  till  at  last  extreme  contemplation  turns 
its  force  inwardly,  and  then  knowledge  becomes  science, 
and  by  flowing  back  upon  its  current,  it  at  last  reaches 
its  source,  and  gains  an  evidence  and  cognition  of  self. 
From  this  eminence  it  surveys  the  whole  moral  world, 
and  there  purifying  its  waters  or  passions,  it  pours  itself 
into  the  tranquil  channel  of  pleasure  and  benevolence, 
and  thence  fertilizes  all  Nature ;  or,  in  other  words,  it 
#16 


j*^  .*af«  *        .    ••      •  •      '     ' 


€0          THE  REVELATION  OP  NATURE. 

arrives  at  the  state  of  intellectual  existence,  and  by  iden- 
tifying itself  with  all  Nature,  procures  for  itself,  and 
other  beings,  or  fellow-selfs,  the  greatest  degree  of  happi- 
ness of  which  intellectuality  is  capable. 

This  science  is  to  be  acquired  by  reading  the  exten- 
sive and  simple  book  of  Nature,  in  travels ;  by  studying 
mankind,  not  in  history,  but  in  person  ;  and  by  much  con- 
templation, or  frequent  conversation  with  self.  These 
give  power  and  energy  to  thought.  Frequent  communi- 
cation or  conversation  with  others,  may  obtain  informa- 
tion as  to  facts  ;  but  avoid  disputation,  which,  owing  to 
the  vanity  and  thoughtlessness  of  mankind,  promotes  ver- 
bal ideas,  but  not  sentiments  of  truth. 

The  investigation  of  truth  can  only  be  effected  by  self 
in  contemplation  ;  for  in  that  self  disputation  we  are  en- 
abled to  discover  when  the  understanding  is  biassed  by 
the  passions,  and  distinguish  the  arguments  of  reason 
from  from  those  of  the  will,  and  by  this  process  alone, 
of  abstracting  the  judgment  from  the  will,  can  the  truth 
of  any  proposition  be  discovered* 

Disputants  in  writing  or  conversation,  constantly  at- 
tempt to  establish  an  opinion,  and  never  discuss  in  order 
to  form  one,  and  this  is  because  they  have  no  knowledge 
of  self,  or  intellectual  existence.  Two  intellectualized 
beings  in  the  discussion  of  truth,  inspired  by  the  subject, 
could  not  possibly  differ,  as  the  reason  alone,  not  the 
will,  would  operate ;  and  though  they  might  not  succeed 
in  their  research,  yet  they  would  both  rest  at  the  same 
point,  as  they  would  reciprocally  adopt  and  improve  their 
minds  with  the  information  and  invention  of  each  other, 
and  being  equally  averse  to  the  impertinent  logic  of  the 
schools,  ajfid  the  silly  conclusion  of  vain  syllogisms,  they 
could  not  dispute  like  mongrel  hounds,  who  stop  short 
in  the  chase  to  fight,  but  would  pursue  with  unanimity 
and  candor,  and  if  the  prey  escape,  they  would  be  equally 
disappointed,  a<nd  suffer  their  loss  in  harmony,  though 
with  regret,  and  console  each  other  with  the  hopes  of 
future  associate  labors. 

The  science  of  Nature  consists  totally  in  the  operation 


THE   PERVERSION    OF    SCIENCE.  61 

t)F  inverting  the  faculties  of  the  mind  upon  sell  which  can 
be  performed  by  the  medium  of  contemplation  al  >ne  in 
order  that  reason  may  be  upon  its  guard  against  the  am- 
bush of  the  will,  which  constantly  surprises  the  mind  in 
social  discourse,  except  it  is  formed  by  men  in  a  state  of 
intellectual  existence,  who  are  much  used  to,  and  im- 
proved by  the  advantages  of  contemplation,  and  then  it 
acquires  energy,  mid  facilitates  investigation  and  the 
knowledge  of  seJ^  in  proportion  to  the  numbers  of  wiiich 
that  society  is  formed. 

The  moment  the  properties  or  essence  .'f  self  is  dis- 
covered, the  study  of  Nature  is  directed  to  well-being  or 
happiness,  and  then  the  faculties  diverge  from  the  centre, 
and  take  an  outward  course  towards  letters,  the  sciences, 
and  mechanic  art's,  which  are  prosecuted  in  proportion 
to  their  utility,  or  produce  of  happiness ;  and  the  man 
who  discovers  a  planet  would  be  rewarded  with  a  pota- 
to, as  he  who  produces  a  potato  would  be  rewarded  with 
[llie  knowledge  of]  a  planet, 

I  am  sensible  that  men  of  learning  and  erudition  woul<% 
reverse  the  dispensation  of  rewards;  and  I  would,  there 
fore,  propose,  that  the  study  of  the  sciences  be  suspend 
ed  universally — over  the  whole   globe — that  the  humai 
mind,  freed  from  the  blandishments  of  the  Syrens  of  sci 
ence  and  arts,  might  be   able  to  return  to  its  home,  and 
invert  all  the  force  of  its  faculties  upon  self.     Rousseau 
treated  all  science  as  an  evil  ;  but  in  thai  he  was  wrong; 
for  science  is  a  good,  as  procuring  pleasure  and  utility 
if  it  did  not  precede  or  expel   the   science  of  Nature,  or 
knowledge   of  self.     These  reflections  will  justify  ROUJ>- 
seau's  disapprobation  of  science,  though  not  his  opinion. 

The  pursuit  of  knowledge,  or  arts  and  sciences,  pro- 
duces the  great  enemy  of  wisdom,  vanity  ;  and  the  man 
of  learning  is  infinitely  further  removed  from  a  state  of 
wisdom,  than  the  unlettered  peasant.  The  former,  con- 
stantly environed  with  the  mist  of  confirmed  and  learned 
error  condensed  by  vanity,  demands  a  .greater  proportion 
of  light  to  extricate  him,  than  the  peasant  in  the  vacuum 
of  ignorance,  where  the  least  ray  of  light  penetrate*,  ami 


62          THE  REVELATION  OP  NATURE. 

meets  no  resistance,  as  it  does  in  the  moral  atmosphere 
of  the  lettered  blockhead,  whose  words  are  but  articulat- 
ed air — sound,  without  sense;  and  whose  powers  of  im- 
agination have  transferred  to  the  memory,  a  repository  of 
ancient  ideas,  which,  if  ever  they  were  true,  time  and  cir- 
cumstances must  have  rendered  false.  Memory  thus  be- 
comes a  mere  copy  of  absolute  archetype,  and  judgment 
is  so  much  overwhelmed,  by  the  learned  rubbish  with 
which  the  mind  is  crammed,  that  it  has  neither  room  nor 
power  to  exert  itself;  and  should  the  wisdom  of  others, 
by  exposing  the  contents  of  this  lumber  room,  offend  the 
vanity,  memory  flies,  as  the  substitute  of  judgment,  to  its 
aid,  and  with  its  usual  weapons,  impertinent  syllogism 
and  false  conclusion,  blinds  the  weak  eyes  of  the  ignor- 
ant, without  casting  the  least  shade  over  the  bright  sun 
of  truth. 

The  unlearned  peasant,  if  removed  from  the  dusty 
neighborhood  of  the  learned  blockhead's  agitated  rubbish, 
would  rub  off  from  his  eyes  the  attenuated  film  of  natu- 
ral ignorance,  and  contemplate  in  ecstacy,  the  glorious 
luminary  of  truth  transcending  the  horizon  of  sense  and 
conviction. 


THE  LOGIC  OF  NATURE. 

WORDS  are  names,  which  by  various  combinations, 
transfer  the  conceptions  of  one  mind  to  those  of  another. 
Abstract  words,  or  those  expressive  of  quality,  can  never 
be  confined  to  a  fixed  and  determined  import,  on  account 
of  the  constant  change  of  Nature,  and  the  scholastic 
logic,  by  falling  into  the  error  of  supposing  the  import  of 
words  to  be  fixed,  has  so  bound  the  human  faculties  in 
syllogistical  false  conclusions,  that  whenever  knowledge 
seems  disposed  to  ripen  into  wisdom,  or  reflect  in  its 
course  upon  its  centre  or  self,  it  is  constantly  propelled 
by  logic,  to  preserve  an  outward  form  or  centrifugal 
force. 

For  example;  when  the  word  good  is  made  use  of  and 


THE   IMPERFECTION   OF   LANGUAGE.  63 

applied  to  man;  if  it  is  one  in  the  state  of  enlightened 
Nature  who  speaks,  he  means  by  good,  that  man,  whose 
nature  is  so  benevolent,  that  he  never  attempts  to  force 
the  will  of  his  fellow  creature,  but  assimilates  it  to  his 
own  by  persuasion  or  argument ;  and  that  does  not  suf- 
fer his  tongue  to  belie  his  heart,  by  wittingly  sacrificing 
truth  to  falsehood.  If  it  is  an  artificially  civilized  being 
who  speaks,  he  means  by  good,  the  man  who  is  obedient 
to  the  laws  and  constitutions  of  society.  In  Spain,  to 
put  a  mtn  to  death  for  daring  to  exercise  the  unalienable 
and  sacred  privilege  of  reason,  is  according  to  law,  and 
therefore  good.  In  France,  where  reason  has  more  en- 
ergy and  religion  less,  to  serve  your  friend,  with  the  sac- 
rifice of  probity  and  patriotism,  is  called  good  :  in  Eng- 
land where  the  mind  approaches  nearest  to  intellectual 
existence,  without  having  attained  it,  to  sacrifice  the 
rights  of  all  mankind  to  the  advantage  of  your  country, 
is  called  good.  An  American  savage  may  think  it  good 
to  put  his  father  to  death ;  a  Chinese  his  child ;  and  a 
thousand  more  instances  might  be  adduced,  to  prove  that 
the  meaning  of  words  cannot  be  fixed  in  the  present  sys- 
tem of  life,  and  that  it  is  the  erroneous  supposition  that 
they  are  so,  that  forms  the  only  impediment  to  the  pro- 
gress of  wisdom. 

It  is,  however,  in  the  power  of  strong  intellectual  fac- 
ulties, notwithstanding  this  apparent  imperfection  of  lan- 
guage, to  communicate  by  words,  most  accurately,  the 
whole  of  their  conception,  and  this,  by  the  circumlocu- 
tion of  definition  ana  description  ;  and  this  dialect  hav- 
ing no  other  quality  but  intelligibility,  could  not  fail  to 
bring  all  mankind  to  one  common  standard  of  good,  to 
the  light  of  wisdom,  or  knowledge  of  self — to  the  prac- 
tice of  virtue,  or  true  love  of  self  — to  the  religion  of  self 
— to  intellectual  existence — and  to  a  state  of  well-being 
or  happiness,  or  a  state  of  enlightened  Nature. 

The  greatest  evidence  that  might  be  brought  to  support, 
the  truth  or  utility  of  natural  religion  i,s,  that  no  dialect 
or  definitive  terms  can  be  understood,  without  it ;  for 
eome  universal  standard  must  be  invented,  to  give  fixed 


64         THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

and  positive  import  to  words.     Circumlocution  or  de- 
scription might  answer  this  end  with  minds  in  a  state  of 
intellectual  existence,  but  in  the  colloquial  intercourse 
with  the  mere  animal  mind  of  man,  it  will  avail  nothing. 
For  supposing  that  a  child  of  Nature,  in  a  dialogue  with 
a  man  of  civilization  in  a  state  of  animal  existence,  makes 
use  of  the  word  goodness,  and  defines  it  to  be  a  quality 
incapable  to  commit  violence,  or  force  the  will  of  self 
upon  a  sensitive  fellow-creature ;  in  a  state  of  civiliza- 
tion, no  such  quality  being  known,  it  is  plain   that  the 
present  state  of  language,  and  every  possible  modification 
of  terms,  could  never  convey  the  same  sentiments,  when 
the  words  to  express  them  mean  black  for  white,  and  in- 
vert the  ideas,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain  or 
fix  any  dialectic  or  logic,  but  upon  the  basis  of  natural 
religion,  where  the  import  of  words  may  be  adjusted  as 
accurately,  as  that  of  numbers;  and  the  progress  of  the 
human  kind,  with  such  a  medium  for  collecting  and  com- 
municating its  powers,  must  propel  it  to  an  acme  of  per- 
fection, that  surpasses  all  conception. 

The  syllogistical  reasoning  of  metaphysical  writers  is 
an  insult  to  common  sense,  and  I  never  perused  any  of 
those  "unanswerable  conclusions"  which,  m'any  learned 
blockheads,  dubbed  philosophers,  have  avowed,  without 
deploring  the  abased  state  of  the  human  faculties,  inca- 
pable of  detecting  the  intelligibility  of  the  terms,  and  the 
vanity,  puerility  and  impertinence  of  the  conclusions,  di- 
vested of  the  common  veil  of  ingenuity,  with  which  all 
metaphysical  authors  abound  ;  for  metaphysics  and  ab- 
surdity are  terms  synonomous. 

An  intellectual  mind   admits  of  no  demonstration  and 
evidence,  but  what  is   drawn  from  the  senses,    and  will 
not  receive  even  as  probability,  what  is  not  a  very  t  lose 
and  substantial   deduction  from  them.     The  religion  of 
Nature,  which  consists  in  [the  knowledge  of]  the  eternal 
connection  of  self  and  Nature  indissoluble  by  change  of 
essence,  as  its  foundation,  is   first  demonstrated  to  the 
senses,  by  the  perpetual  transmutation,  and  indestructi- 
bility of  matter,  and  probability  points  out  by  a  close 


THE   REVELATION    OP  NATtTRE.  65 

and  substantial  inference,  that  I — essence— or  that  same- 
thing,  me — is  connected  with  Nature  as  its  integer,  and 
all  the  powers  of  thought  cannot  conceive  its  cessation, 
which  impresses  such  an  almost  intuitive  idea  oi  this 
incontrovertihle  and  useful  truth  upon  the  mind,  as  c-l- 
evates  the  existence  of  the  intellectual  man  a.<  murh 
ahove  the  animal,  as  he  is  above  the  vegetable,  and  pro- 
duces that  state  of  enlightened  Nature,  which  (wins  the 
acme  of  human  essence. 

MEDICINE  OF  NATURE. 

THE  first  study  of  mankind  is  man,  and  it  is  the  most 
abstruse  and  difficult,  of  all  others. 

The  intellectual  properties  of  his  combination  are  to 
be  discovered  by  much  solitude  and  contemplation  :  for 
the  conversation  of  his  own  species  promotes  only  the 
communication  of  ideas,  formed  under  the  bias  and  cor- 
ruption of  the  will ;  for  when  two  persons  dispute  or  dis- 
cuss, it  is  always  to  support  a»d  maintain  their  favorite 
conceptions  ;  whereas,  man,  in  self-conversation,  feels 
no  humility  in  changing  or  examining  his  own  opinion, 
and  judgment  in  this  state,  makes  more  progress  towards 
truth  in  one  minute,  than  in  hours  of  conversation,  either 
oral  or  scriptory.  The  advantage  of  conversation  with 
others  of  his  species,  serves  to  extend  his  knowledge  and 
ideas;  but  it  is  in  conversation  with  self  that  judgment 
strengthens  and  improves,  and  it  is  by  this  habit  of 
thoughtfulness,  contemplation,  and  self-conversation,  st> 
remarkable  in  the  English  nation,  that  they  have  left  the 
rest  of  the  world  centuries  behind,  in  their  progress  to- 
wards intellectual  existence,  though  they  are  still  them- 
selves at,  a  great  distance  from  that  glorious  acme  of  hu- 
man nature. 

The  mind,  in  hobit  of  self  and  social  conversation,  re- 
sembles in  its  mode  of  labor,  the  industrious  bee,  that 
roams  abroad  to  get  its  material,  but  makes  all  its  honey 
at  home.  This  habit  mast,  in  the  end  conduct  the  mind 


46  THE   REVELATION    OF   NATURE. 

to  a  knowledge  of  self,  or  the  intellectual  part  of  its  or- 
ganization. This  being  done,  the  corporeal  part  will  be 
easily  explored. 

The  knowledge  of  anatomy,  or  the  different  parts  of 
the  body,  and  their  union,  may  be  learned  by  dissection, 
and  a  variety  of  accidental  derangements  or  wounds  reme- 
died by  the  art  of  surgery  ;  but  there  is  another  knowl- 
edge of  the  body,  which  no  art  can  discover;  that  is,  in 
the  circulation  of  its  fluids.  The  order  or  disorder  of 
these,  upon  which  depends  the  health  of  the  body,  can  be 
known  only  by  experimental  sensations.  The  attention 
paid  to  these  must  be  critical,  and  the  inductions  of  Na- 
ture strictly  observed  and  followed.  When  the  body 
gives  the  first  symptoms  of  disorder,  the  loss  of  appetite 
often  follows,  which  indicates  aliment  to  be  noxious ; 
but  as  life  demands  from  reason,  though  not  from  corpo- 
real sensation,  some  sustenance,  judgment  goes  in  search 
of  what  may  be  congenial  to  the  present  habit  of  body, 
and  by  cautious  and  guarded  experiment,  discovers  the 
healthful  diet. 

The  science  of  medicine,  from  one  general  rule  of  ap- 
plication to  the  infinite  variety  of  human  constitutions, 
has  done  more  harm  than  good  to  mankind,  and  though 
its  sudden  operations  may  frequently  delay  the  hand  of 
death,  yet  it  ever  undermines  the  stamina  oflife,  and  few, 
if  any  of  its  votaries,  but  become  victims,  conducted  in- 
sidiously to  a  premature  tomb,  through  a  painful  and  de- 
bilitated existence. 

Medicament  is  studied  by  Nature  in  aliment  alone,  and 
this  applied  preventively,  rather  than   sanatively.     It  is 
in  the  power  of  a  man  of  wisdom,  to  discover  by  expe- 
rience, what  food  is  homogeneous,  and  what  is  heteroge- 
neous to  his  constitution.     The  first  promotes  and  per- 
petuates order,  or  the  just  operations  of  all  the  functions 
oflife — the  latter,  in  most  cases,  indicates  the  noxious- 
ness of  its  quality,  by  an  impediment  in  the  functions,;' 
where  no  derangement  of  the  animal  functions  are 
'b!«5,  v»'«?  may  th?,n  reason  from  the  experience  of 


THE  MEDICATION  OF  NATURE.      .    67 

For  example;  I  travel  into  a  distant  country,  and  ob- 
serve the  natives  inflicted  with  endemic  disorders ;  wis- 
dom counsels  me  to  quit  that  country,  though  my  consti- 
tution has  given  no  symptoms  of  disorder.  I  see  also 
the  effects  of  gluttony  in  my  fellow-citizens,  the  vigor  of 
whose  youth  resisted  the  poison  of  debauchery,  and 
whose  animal  functions,  unimpeded,  gave  them  no  alarm, 
but  they  are  now  dragging  on  life  in  all  the  misery  ol  dis- 
ease, to  a  premature  caducity  and  death. 

This  miserable  old  age,  which  distinguishes  the  Eu- 
ropean from  the  Asiatic  nations,  whose  age  is  but  the 
decline  of  strength,  or  the  sleep  of  apathy,  ending  in 
peaceful  dissolution,  excites  my  wonder  and  curiosity, 
and  interest  compels  rne  to  the  investigation  of  this  mel- 
ancholy truth. 

Upon  a  comparative  view  of  the  constitutions  and  cli- 
mates, I  find  them  reciprocally  adapted,  and  offering  no* 
difference  of  good  or  evil.  I  then  consider  the  aliment, 
and  though  upon  a  superficial  observation,  the  difference 
might  be  supposed  wisely  adapted  to  the  difference  of 
climate;  yet  upon  more  critical  investigation,  I  am  dis- 
posed to  believe  the  aliment  of  flesh  and  fermented  li- 
quors to  be  heterogeneous  to  the  nature  of  man  in  every 
climate.  [Distilled  liquors  are  not  even  aliment,] 

1  have  observed  among  nations,  whose  aliment  is  ve- 
getables and  water,  that  disease  and  medicine  are  equally 
unknown,  while  those,  whose  aliment  is  flesh  and  fer- 
mented liquor,  are  constantly  afflicted  with  disease,  and 
with  medicine  more  dangerous  than  disease  itself,  and 
not  only  those  guilty  of  excess,  but  others,  who  lead  lives 
of  temperance. 

These  observations  show  the  great  importance  of  the 
congeniality  of  aliment,  o«  the  discovery  and  continuance 
of  which  depends  the  inestimable  blessing  of  health,  or 
basis  of  well-being  or  happiness. 

As  my  own  discoveries  in  this  important  subject  may 
be  of  some  use  to  mankind,  I  shall  relate  the  state  of  my 
own  health  and  aliment. 

At  a  very  early  period  1  left  my  native  climate,  before 
17 


C8          THE  REVELATION  Of  NATURE. 

excess,  debauchery,  or  diet  had  done  the  least  injury  to 
my  body.  I  found  many  of  my  countrymen  in  the  coun- 
try of  India,  suffering  under  a  variety  of  distempers;  for 
though  they  had  changed  their  country,  they  would  by  no 
means  change  their  aliment;  and  to  this  ignorant  obsti- 
nacy I  attributed  the  cause  of  their  disorders.  /  To  prove 
ibis  by  my  own  experience,  I  followed  the  diet  of  the  na- 
tives, and  found  no  change  in  my  health,  nor  was  I  af- 
fected by  the  greatest  contrariety  of  climate,  to  which  I 
exposed  myself  more  than  any  of  my  countrymen  dared 
to  do. 

This  led  me  to  consider  the  nature  of  aliment  upon 
the  human  body  abstractedly. 

Anatomy  which  discovers  the  nature  and  connection 
of  flie  solids,  or  material  organization  of  the  human  body, 
can  give  no  adequate  knowledge  of  the  fluids,  or  matter 
in  circulation  ;  for  these  recede  from,  and  are  changed 
or  destroyed  by  all  chirurgical  operations. 

These  can  only  be  discovered  in  our  own  living  bodies, 
not  their  cause  or  nature,  but  their  effect,  either  latent 
or  manifested  in  the  change  or  disorder  of  the  functions 
oflife,  or  the  excrement  of  the  body.  The  ducts  or  ves- 
sels which  convey  the  circulation  of  the  fluids,  are  cer- 
tainly affected  by  the  quality  of  the  latter,  as  the  banks 
of  a  river  are  broken  down  or  preserved  by  the  regularity 
of  the  current. 

fAs  I  possess  from  care  and  nature  a  perfectly  sound 
constitution,  my  body  may  serve  as  an  example  which 
may  generalize  the  affect  of  aliment  upon  most  other  bo- 
dies. 

I  observed  in  travelling,  if  my  body  was  wet,  and  must 
continue  any  time  in  that  state,  I  abstained  from  all 
•  nourishment  till  it  was  dry,  and  always  escaped  the  usu- 
al disorders  of  cold,  rheumatism,  and  lever.  When  I 
was  in  the  frigid  zone,  1  lived  upon  a  nutricious  aliment, 
and  eat  much  butter  with  beans,  peas,  and  other  pulse* 
In  the  torrid  zone  I  diminished  the  nutritious  quality  of 
my  food,  and  eat  but  little  butter,  and  even  then  found  it 
accessary  to  eat  spices  to  absorb  the  humours,  whose 

Y 


TIIE    QUACKERY    OF   MEDICINE.  69 

redundancy  are  caused  by  heat,  and  are  noxious  in  hot 
climates.  In  cold  climates  Nature  seems  to  demand 
that  redundancy,  as  necessary  to  strength  and  health. 

The  ahove  is  an  account  of  the  circulation  of  the  flu- 
ids in  a  healthy  body.  In  proportion  as  bodies  have  the 
least  duct  or  vessel  foul  from  morbid  habits  and  peccant 
humours,  they  cannot  follow  the  above  example;  but  still 
it  is  in  the  power  of  wisdom  and  observation  to  form  a 
congenial  diet,  that  may  be  sufficient,  though  not  to  pro- 
cure perfect  health,  yet  may  guard  against  painful  sick- 
ness, or  dangerous  disorder  ;  and  Nature,  treated  with 
constant  care,  may  possibly  reform  all  the  injured  or  be- 
fouled ducts  and  vessels,  and  return  to  a  state  of  perfect 
health. 

The  present  practice  of  mankind,  both  of  the  doctor 
and  patient,  proves  how  distant  the  mind  is  from  tire 
acme  of  its  powers  or  intellectual  existence. 

The  doctor  applies  his  theoretic  pharmacy,  to  every 
disease,  as  an  ignorant,  bombadier  does  his  mathematical 
calculations  to  every  kind  of  gunpowder,  by  which  means 
the  former  as  rarely  hits  the  point  of  remedy,  as  the  lat- 
ter the  object  of  his  projectile.  Happy  would  it  be  for 
mankind,  if  their  disappointment  had  the  same  result  ! 

The  doctor  acquires  the  knowledge  of  his  patient's 
constitution  in  a  period  of  time  that  is  measured  by  the 
drawing  and  opening  of  the  purse  to  pay  the  fee,  while 
the  proverb  allows  the  patient  forty  years  to  obtain  it. 
The  sagacious  doctor  comprehends  the  whole  in  two 
minutes,  and  the  fee  makes  up  the  supplement  of  all  ne- 
cessary communication. 

The  study  of  the  catholic  remedy  of  Nature,  aliment, 
infinite  as  it  is  in  variety,  is  confined,  by  most  doctors, 
to  broth  and  boiled  meat ;  and  the  prescription  the  most 
innocent,  though  ultimately  letiferous  is,  "purges  and 
vomits,"  which  by  opening  the  two  doors  of  the  fortress, 
force  the  enemy  to  a  partial  or  momentary  retreat,  though 
the  auxiliary  troops  have  caused  much  devastation  in  their 
passage. 


70         THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

When  drugs  ot  latent  operation  are  applied,  All  is  un- 
certainty, except  debility,  premature  caducity,  and  death. 
There  may  be  some  few  instances  where  the  ducts  or 
vessels  of  the  body  are  so  foul,  from  disease  brought  on 
by  excess,  that  Nature  requires  the  assistance  of  art  or 
efforts  of  medicine  ;  but  I  believe  these  are  as  five  to  one 
hundred,  and  aliment  [dieting]  must  be  allowed  to  have 
this  great  advantage  over  medicine,  that  if  it  does  not 
cure  it  does  not  kill. 

I  believe,  if  the  question,  "  Whether  medicine  did 
more  good  or  harm  to  mankind  ?"  was  put  to  a  consci- 
entious physician,  he  would  determine  against  his  own 
profession.  [This  actually  has  been  done.] 

Remediary  aliment,  as  it  requires  great  sagacity,  atten- 
tion and  patience,  is  neglected,  and  medicine  is  preferred, 
as  it  favors  the  natural  indolence  and  ignorance  of  man- 
kind, and  the  moment  the  glorious  sun  of  wisdom  shall 
appear  on  the  moral  horizon,  learned  error,  which  forms 
the  blackest  clouds  in  the  atmosphere,  will   be  first  dis- 
pelled, that  simple  ignorance  may  find  its  way  with  ease 
to  the  road  of  happiness  and  reason.     The  learned  error 
of  medicine   poisons  the   body,  as  the  learned  error  of 
morality  does  the  mind,  and  when  these  shall  give  place 
to  sympathy  and  wisdom,  man  will  acquire  the  result  of 
all  his  researches  and  labors,  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound 
body.     He  will  also  discover,   that  moral   and  physical 
motion  have  the   same  double  force,  centripetal  and  cen- 
trifugal, and  that,  as  the  celestial  bodies  are  detained  in 
tranquil  orbits,  by  the  diurnal  motion  upon  their  own  axis, 
and  their  annual  motion  round  the  sun  or  systematic  cen- 
tre, so  moral  bodies  conjoined  with  intellectualized  minds, 
move  upon  the  axis  self,  in  the  orbit  of  society,  and  the 
moment  this  discovery  presents  itself  to  human  capacity, 
man  will  so  regulate  the  centripetal  and  centrifugal  force 
of  self,   as   to  preserve  universal  harmony  in  the  Moral 
System  of  Nature. 

Till  the  knowledge  of  self,  corporeally  and  intellectu- 
ally, is  discovered,  ethics,  as  well  as  physic  will  never 
procure  either  happiness  or  health  to  mankind  ;  for  if  the 


THE    CRIMINAL    EXCESS    OF    INDUSTRY.  71 

mind  is  averse  to  the  close  attention,  through  the  medium 
of  temperance,  which  procures  a  knowledge  of  the  bodi- 
ly functions,  how  infinitely  more  averse  must  it  be  to  the 
more  difficult  attention  through  the  medium  of  virtue,  to 
procure  a  knowledge  of  the  mental  functions,  or  self. 

T..e  present  false  systems  of  ethics  and  medicine  ac 
cord  in  recommending  their  greatest  enemies,  ethics  in 
Justly,  and  medicine  physic. 

Let  us  examine  the  present  effects  of  industry  among 
mankind.  The  English  are  by  far  the  most  industrious 
nation  upon  the  globe ;  but  what  is  the  consequence  ? 
Nationally,  they  are  the  most  powerful  and  the  richest 
people.  From  calculation  formed  on  an  average  of  the 
whole,  it  would  appear  that  every  individual  should  wear 
upon  his  back  the  value  of  five  days  labor ;  inhabit  a 
house,  whose  rent  is  equal  to  the  daily  value  of  four 
days  labor ;  his  daily  food  equal  the  value  of  three  days 
labor;  and  these  calculations  are  formed  upon  an  average 
(remember.)  of  the  whole ;  so  that  the  support  of  each 
subject  of  England  may,  on  the  average,  require  twelve 
days  labor.  We  will  suppose  his  own  superior 
industry  to  equal  four  days  labor  of  a  stranger,  and  his 
skill  or  product  of  his  ingenuity  is  exported  and  procures 
him  the  value  of  eight  days  labor  from  foreign  countries. 
What  is  ultimately  its  utility  or  effect  uppn  his  happi- 
ness ?  [under  the  existing  system  of  property?] 

The  poor  man  upon  whom  the  unequal  division  of  la- 
bor falls,  must  be  reduced  thereby  to  a  piece  of  mechan- 
ism, or  mere  animal  state  of  existence.  His  life  must 
be  spent  in  the  alternate  occupations  of  toil  and  sleep, 
which  must  deprive  his  essence  of  all  consciousness,  and 
depress  him  to  a  very  low  state  upon  the  scale  of  exis- 
tence, even  if  bodily  health  should  render  him  absent  from 
pain,  but  sickness  must  render  it  miserable  and  deplo- 
rable. 

Let  us  now  inquire  whether  the  misery  of. the  poor 
promotes  the  happiness  of  the  rich.  The  latter  escape 
from  bodily  toil,  which  leaves  them  in  such  a  vacuum  of 
indolence,  that  the  body  loses  all  its  vigor  and  health,  the 


72          THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

foundation  of  happiness.  The  mind,  to  avoid  stagna- 
tion creates  various  factitious  desires  and  wants,  pursu- 
ing them  with  an  energy,  that  agitates,  arid  not  undulates 
the  current  of  life.  Castles  are  occupied  by  themselves 
and  families,  where  -forms  of  etiquette  and  proud  cere- 
mony turn  their  pompous  habitations  into  gloomy  prisons, 
and  where  the  elastic  balmy  air  of  the  atmosphere  is  for- 
bid entrance  to  purify  the  morbid  air  of  the  drawing- 
room,  exhausted  with  the  heat  of  candles  and  fire,  infect- 
ed with  the  respiration  of  unhealthy  and  numerous  com- 
panies, and  which  turns  their  inhabitants  into  spectres  in 
appearance,  and  invalids  in  reality.  The  muid  partici- 
pates of  the  debility  of  the  body  ;  and  memory  to  avoid 
the  tedium  of  inactive  life,  fills  itself  with  all  the  rubbish 
of  ancient  and  modern  history,  courts,  domestic  anec- 
dotes, which  overwhelm  the  faculties  of  judgment,  and 
reduce  the  mind  to  the  same  state  of  unconsciousness 
with  excessive  labor,  and  is  evinced  by  that  easy  behav- 
ior, and  thoughtless  loquacity  of  the  rich  and  great, 
'which  seem  to  indicate  no  vacuum  in  life,  but  is,  at  the 
same  time,  a  sure  proof  of  want  of  judgment,  sensibility, 
and  consciousness,  without  which  rational  existence  can 
liave  no  excellence  over  animal,  and  the  mind  can  possess 
no  powers  to  expand  into  intellectual  existence. 

Industry,  therefore,  according  to  the  .present  system, 
*.eems  a  necessary  evil  or  a  relative  good,  as  it  gives  pow- 
«r  and  riches  to  nations ;  but  the  morality  of  Nature  re- 
gards all  excessive  occupation,  as  an  enemy  to  human 
happiness,  and  demands  a  medium  of  repose  and  labor 
to  enable  the  mind  to  expand  into  consciousness,  by  con- 
templation of  itself,  and  to  invigorate  the  corporeal  fa- 
culties, to  procure  the  perfection  of  essence, — A  SOUND 

MIND   IN    A    SOUND    BODY, 


THE  REVELATION  0V  NATURE.          73 


THE    ARTS. 

TffE  first  "aft,  and  the  most  useful,  which  quality  alone, 
'  in  an  enlightened  state  of  Nature  gives  pre-eminence,  is 
AGRICULTURE,  as  on  this  depends  the  existence  of  ani- 
mate matter  ;  and  though  a  greater  proportion  of  the  hu- 
man race  subsist  by  devouring  sentient  fellow  parts  of 
this  matter,  yet  this  evil  must  cease  in  an  enlightened 
state  of  Nature  ;  and  man,  the  great  instrument  by  which 
Nature  operates  her  ow«  perfection,  the  moment  he  is 
called  to  intellectual  existence,  must  change  his  aliment 
from  animal  to  vegetable,  in  order  to  procure  both  health 
of  body  and  health  of  mind.  For  as  animal  food  tends 
to  pamper  the  body  with  gross  humors,  and  inflame  the 
•blood  which  gives  strength  to  the  passions,  and  in  the 
same  proportion  debilitates  the  reason,  so  it  must  engen- 
der disease  and  vice  ;  but  vegetable  diet  has  the  contrary 
effect,  which  may  be  proved  at  any  time  by  experience  : 
though  it  requires  a  delicacy  of  attention,  and  accuracy 
of  judgment  to  discover  such  results. 

A  man  in  an  enlightened  state  of  Nature  will  be  averse 
to  the  violence  necessary  to  procure  subsistence  by  ani- 
mal food,  and  the  only  violence  he  will  permit,  and  that 
with  extreme  regret,  will  be  the  destruction  of  destruc- 
tive creatures,  whom  he  cannot  change  by  education  or 
prevent  by  restriction .:  both  of  which  means  he  will  first 
attempt,  in  order  that  the  sacred  passion  of  sympathy 
may  receive  no  callosity  or  diminution  by  hasty  or  vo- 
luntary violence. 

THE   MECHANIC   ARTS. 

THESE  useful  arts  serve  to  assist  the  art  of  agriculture 
by  fabricating  its  implements,  and  to  combat  the  incle* 
mencies  of  the  climate,  by  building  houses  and  making 
clothes ;  also  to  construct  arms  to  oppose  destructive 
animals ;  to  invent  also  various  machi&es  of  sport,  plays, 
•aad  enjoyments  of  ^very  kind. 


74  THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 


THE    POLITE    ARTS. 

THE  FINE  ARTS — Music,  Painting,  Sculpture,  En- 
graving, Poetry,  Eloquence,  &c.  are  to  be  studied  as  con- 
tributing much  to  the  comfort*  and  pleasures  of  life  ;  and* 
Eloquence  is  highly  beneficial,  as  lending  to  give  form  to 
thought,  and  to  facilitate  its  communication,  by  which 
alone  intellectual  existence  can  be  promoted  or  preserved, 
in  the  .present  corrupted  state  of  man,  or  erroneous  civi 
lizalion.  Eloquence  is  used  to  communicate  thought, 
biassed  and  corrupted  by  the  will,  and  is  therefore  the 
the  greatest  enemy  to  intellectual  existence  ;  for  if  elo- 
quence had  not  arrayed  error  in  such  seducing  ornaments 
of  language,  mankind  would  long  ago  have  been  emanci- 
pated from  the  charnas  of  this  syren.  It  is,  however, 
consolatory  to  human  nature,  to  reflect  that  the  more 
strength  eloquence  acquires,  the  more  useful  it  will  be- 
come when  subdued  by  wisdom,  when  as  an  auxiliary 
ai.-'l  tributary  power,  it  will  amply  atone  for  all  the  inju- 
ry it  has  yet  done  to  mankind  in  destroying  truth;  arid 
by  extending  over  the  whole  world  the  empire  of  wis- 
dom, and  by  surrounding  its  throne,  render  it  invincible 
and  eternal. 

The  mechanic  a»<3  the  fine  arts  are  real  friends  to  hu- 
man nature,  and  if  contemplation  of  self,  or  the  study  of 
man  is  not  sacrificed  thereto,  happiness  will  be  greatly 
indebted  to  them  for  much  comfort,  pleasure  and  utility. 
Poetry,  eloquence,  music,  &c.  constitute  the  relaxation 
of  wisdom,  who  acquires  energy  from  the  temporary  re- 
pose in  their  tender  and  voluptuous  embraces  ;  but  these 
valuable  exercises  of  the  mind  are  at  present  basely  pros- 
tit'Ued  to  the  service  of  adulation,  falsehood,  vice,  "and 
superstition.  But  when  wisdom  shall  have  gloriously 
triumphed  over  the  errors  of  civil  institution  and  the  pre- 
judices of  credulity  and  superstition,  the  fine  arts  will 
amply  atone  for  their  apostacy  and  prostitution,  by  be- 
coming the  ministers  of  truth,  virtue  and  happiness,  to 
support  the  throne  of  wisdom. 


THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE.          75 

THE  RELIGION  OF  NATURE. 


TENET  I.     NATURE   is  the  great   integer  of  being,  or 
matter  and  motion,  without  beginning  as  without  end. 

II.  Mankind  are  the  instruments  of  Nature  in  its  mo- 
ral motion,  formed  to  procure  well-being  or  happiness  to 
all  animated  matter. 

III.  All  animated  matter,  however  organized,  changed, 
or  dissolved,  is  related   as  parts  inseparable   from  the 
great  integer  Nature. 

IV.  Bodies  intellectualized  and  possessing  identifica- 
tions of  I,  you,  and  they,  are   created   to   possess  con- 
sciousness  of  existence   by  sensations  of  pleasure  and 
cain ;  and  though  these  [individual  identities]  are    anni- 
hilated upon  the  dissolution  of  the  bodies,    they  still,  as 
parts  of  Nature,  are  concerned  in  the  future  pain  and 
pleasure  of  their  common  integer,  from  wh'ch  they  are 
inseparable,  though  subject  to  endless  change  and  revo- 
lution. 

V.  Moral   and  physical   motion  are   subject  to  fixed 
laws,  which  produce  volition — the  cause  of  action  in  ani- 
mate matter. 

VI.  The  judgment  or  result  of  the  operation    of  the 
mental   faculties  can  have  cognizance  only  of  secondary- 
causes  which  it  apparently  controls    and   directs  to  pro- 
duce well-being   or  happiness   to  its  essence,  which  it 
will   ever    suppose  to  be  the  end  [object]    of  primary 
causes. 

VII.  The  human  intellect  has  no  power  beyond   these 
secondary   causes    of  volition,   and  their  end,    which  is 
happiness,  all  beyond  being  incomprehensibility  ;  and  the 
reasoning  of  analogy  can   influence  only  from  its  proba- 
bility, and  that,  must  be  considered  relative  to  the  happi- 
ness of  all  animated  Nature. 

VIII.  Man,  in  forming  a  volition  to  procure  happiness, 
begins  with  self  as  the  centre,  and  extends  to  the  circle 


76          THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

formed  by  all  animate  matter.  He  is  to  will  for  himself 
alone,  and  do  no  violence  to  any  part  of  animate  matter; 
and  in  the  orbit  of  social  attraction  he  must  imitate  the 
revolution  of  the  celestial  bodies,  whose  reciprocal  re- 
pulsion and  attraction  operate  without  concussion  or  vio- 
lence to  the  centre,  or  the  point,  self.  Man  cedes  not, 
but  reforms  his  volition  when  it  is  in  collision  with  that 
of  another,  to  acquire  more  happiness,  considering  him- 
self a  component  part  in  this  eternal  relation  to  the  great 
integer  of  Nature ;  and  by  this  means  he  produces  and 
eternizes  a  system  of  moral  harmony,  or  pain  and  pleas- 
ure, of  which  he  must  ever  be  a  centre,  and  participate 
as  an  eternal  part  of  an  eternal  integer ;  which  connec- 
tion is  indissoluble,  though  its  mode  is  incomprehensi- 
ble, and  passes  through  every  form  of  matter  in  an  infi- 
nite revolution. 


WHEN  the  mind  takes  into  contemplation  a  subject  of 
such  importance,  novelty  and  magnitude,  as  the  Religion 
of  Nature,  it  is  apprehensive  and  alarmed,  and  descends 
with  caution  and  terror  into  its  vast  profundity.  In  sub- 
jects and  researches  of  infinitely  less  utility  and  conse- 
quence, how  many  minds  have  been  debilitated  and  dis- 
tracted !  The  mathematics  have  sacrificed  many  victims, 
astronomy  more,  the  longitude  and  chemistry  have  ab- 
sorbed and  deranged  many  of  the  most  strongly  organ- 
ized faculties,  but  the  subject  of  religion  has  so  univer- 
sally deranged  and  destroyed  the  human  faculties,  that 
reason  seems  to  have  lost  its  powers  of  pre-eminence, 
and  instinet  would  be  preferred,  but.  that  the  former  Con- 
tains iuaate  elastic  matter,  which,  when  heated  by  the 
sun  of  wisdom,  must  expand,  and  reason  then  assume  its 
pre-eminence  and  dignity. 

Agitated,  though  not  confounded  by  these  discouraging 
reflections,  I  shall  proceed  to  give  the  course*  of  exposi- 
tion to  my  thoughts  without  any  regard  to  ceremonious 
rules  of  literature  on  one  hand,  or  the  menaces  of  preju- 
dice on  the  other. 


RELIGION    WITHOUT   MORALITT.  l" 

To  erect  the  glorious  fabric  of  natural  religion,  it  is 
by  no  means  necessary  to  clear  away  the  rubbish  of  pre- 
judice and  priest-craft,  which  become  mere  dust  when 
the  ponderous  stones  of  truth,  of  which  this  fabric  is 
composed,  are  collected,  and  the  foundation  is  laid ;  but 
lest  this  dust  should  embarrass  weak  eyes,  one  single 
observation,  like  a  torrent  from  the  clouds,  will  con- 
dense it  to  a  palpable  mud,  and  wash  it  all  into  the  com- 
mon sewer  of  ignorance. 

In  every  country  into  which  I  have  travelled,  I  have 
always  observed  that  morality  and  religion  were  constant- 
ly in  enmity,  and  where  the  one  reigned,  the  other  was 
exiled. 

If  we  begin  the  parallel  of  examination  in  the  East, 
and  proceed  with  it  to  the  West,  we  find  the  Asiatic  na- 
tions occupied  one  half  of  the  day  in  ceremonies  of  re- 
ligion, while  the  other  half  of  the  day  is  spent  in  acts  of 
knavery,  fraud  and  cruelty ;  sympathy  of  heart  and  rec- 
titude of  mind  are  absolutely  not  only  unpractised,  but 
literally  unknown.  The  nations  of  Europe  follow  the 
same  parallel,  and  the  most  religious  countries  are  here 
also  the  most  immoral,  which  Russia  and  Italy  incontes- 
tably  prove ;  France  and  England,  as  being  the  least  reli- 
gious, excel  in  morality,  in  the  same  degree  as  they  have 
abandoned  religion. 

In  England  alone  this  parallel  is  strongly  illustrated, 
where  the  most  zealous  sect  in  the  world  becomes  an 
asylum  for  the  most  abandoned  of  mankind,  and  wis- 
dom seems  to  have  produced  an  event,  which,  if  the 
mind  viewed  it  through  an  unprejudiced  medium,  woula 
cause  religion  to  become  a  suicide,  and  die  by  its  own 
hand. 

This  sect  of  mental  idolaters  have  formed  a  tenet, 
that  declares  morality  inimical  to  religion,  and  that  a 
man  obtains  the  recompense  of  heaven  for  credulity 
alone.  The  blindness  of  zeal  has  led  these  enthusiasts 
to  produce  more  evidence  in  favor  of  natural  religion  and 
truth,  than  the  most  ingenious  and  elaborate  arguments 
of  a  child  of  Nature. 


78         THE  REVELATION  OP  NATURE. 

Priests  of  all  other  religions,  however  they  may  im- 
pose their  reveries  upon  the  ignorance  of  their  votaries, 
nave  policy  enough  to  sanctify  their  follies  with  morality, 
in  order  to  procure  the  support  of  government,  which 
participating  of  the  error  and  prejudice  of  the  govern- 
ed, is  not  able  to  detect  the  shallow  artifice  of  priest- 
craft, which,  by  the  dispensation  of  pardon  for  the  most 
atrocious  crimes,  betrays  itself  almost  as  openly  as  does 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  metlmdists ;  and  the  tariff  of  expi- 
ations and  atonements  of  the  one,  and  the  impious  blas- 
phemy against  virtue  of  the  other,  is  ample  evidence  to 
convict  such  religions  in  the  court  of  wisdom  and  con- 
science, of  impiety,  falsehood  and  treason,  to  the  happi- 
ness and  well-being  of  all  sensitive  Nature. 

If  these  observations  are  not  comprehensible  or  satis- 
factory, I  must  refer  my.  reader  to  the  u  System  of  Na- 
ture" written  in  French  by  M.  Mirabaud,  [now  ascribed 
to  Baron  D'Holbach,]  where  error  is  so  closely  combat- 
ted  and  pursued  in  all  its  recesses,  that  the  mind  by  ir- 
resistible conviction  emerges  from  its  abyss,  and  seeks 
with  impatience  a  new  guide,  or  the  light  of  Nature, 
which  I  hope  will  be  found  in  these  pages,  and  that  they 
will  form  a  complete  supplement  to  that  work. 

The  progress  of  human  thought,  or  moral  motion,  to 
the  meridian  of  human  essence,  has  been  repressed  and 
arrested  by  an  assent  of  the  mind,  to  Intelligence  as  be- 
ing the  primary  cause  of  all  matter  arid  motion,  from  its 
property  of  order  and  analogy  with  human  intelligence. 
But  what  effect  does  this  assent  produce?  a  painful  ac« 
quiesence  in  the  evils  of  life,  filled  with  doubt  and  terror 
of  futurity. 

The  Religion  of  Nature  considers  the  cause  of  mo- 
tion as  incomprehensible,  and  studies  only  the  effect  as 
being  interesting  and  important,  and  sanctioned  by  Utility^ 
which  is  the  god  of  Nature.  When  hunger  propel 
does  the  wise  man  hesitate  to  eat  till  he  has  discover 
the  cause  of  that  passion  ?  No,  he  earnestly  sets  about 
procuring  its  gratification.  So  does  the  child  of  Nature, 
with  moral  motion  or  action ;  he  considers  not  its  caus? 


THE   ENORMITY    OF   LABOR.  79 

but  studies  to  conduct  it  to  its  end,  or  the  well-being  of 
self,  as  the  centre  of  the  great  system  of  animated  mat- 
ter, which,  like  the  celestial  systems  of  planets,  moves 
in  the  order  of  unitary  influence,  and  no  part  of  the  one 
can  lose  its  gravity  or  attraction,  or  the  other  its  sympa- 
thy or  rectitude,  without  communicating  disorder  or  pain 
to  the  whole  ;  and  the  moral  world  must  remain  in  itfr 
present  chaos,  till  wisdom  has  gained  the  first  combat 
over  coercion,  and  confined  it  to  the  succinct  law  of  re- 
straining the  will  of  violators;  and  in  this  state  it  would 
soon  exhaust  its  own  element  and  dissolve. 

This  triumph  of  wisdom  can  only  be  accelerated  by 
the  enormities  of  political  evils,  and  destructive  warfare^ 
which  having  the  same  direful  effect  as  anarchy  in  indl* 
vidual  states,  will  render  the  confederacy  of  nations  as 
necessary  to  the  safety  of  mankind,  as  is  domestic  gov- 
ernment. 

At  this  aera  all  national  competition  being  destroyed, 
and  the  peaceful  communication  of  commerce  promoting 
intellectual  intercourse,  individual  competition  will  also 
relax;  and  Industry,  the  dreadful  enemy  to  truth  and  hap- 
piness, which  under  the  veil  of  necessity  and  avarice,  isi 
cultivated  as  a  friend,  will  be  changed  for  repose,  the  only 
medium  through  which  intellectual  existence  or  conscious- 
ness can  be  obtained.  The  industry  which  Nature  de- 
mands as  the  means  of  existence  and  comfort,  is  repose 
when  compared  with  the  destructive  toil,  which  the  comv 
petition  of  nations,  and  the  avarice  of  powerful  individ- 
uals, imposes  on  their  fellow-creatures. 

Among  the  various  devices  and  contrivances,  which  the 
ingenuity  of  man  has  invented,  through  civil,  political' 
and  domestic  institutions,  to  fill  up  the  measure  of  life, 
is  that  of  the  arch-fiend,  Industry,  who  has  pierced  a 
hole  in  the  bottom  of  the  vessel,  which,  like  the  urn  of 
the  Danaides,  excites  and  mocks  the  laboring  hands  that 
fill  it. 

The  laws  of  civil  society  are  not  invented  to  protect 
the  indigent :  for  the  rich  merchant  or  land-holder  holds 
them  in  a  subjection  from  the  necessity  of  subsistence, 


60  THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

which,  law  has  as  yet  contrived  no  remedy  to  relieve  them 
in,  and  policy  seems  not  to  demand  it,  or  to  measure  it 
by  the  common  standard  of  political  necessity. 

The  poor  artizan,  who  may  have  a  wife  and  several 
children,  labors,  we  will  suppose,  for  two  shillings  ster- 
ling per  day  :  this  is  but  barely  sufficient  to  maintain  his 
own  person;  what  then  becomes  of  his  family?  Death, 
no  doubt,  relieves  many,  and  misery  drags  on  the  rest  to 
a  state  of  feeble  manhood.  The  same  observation  ap- 
plies to  the  peasant  and  his  landlord. 

The  poor,  then,  have  no  dependence,  but  on  the  hu- 
manity and  generosity  of  the  rich,  and  in  proportion  as 
the  latter  are  virtuous  or  wicked,  the  poor  are  more  or 
less  miserable.  This  is  exemplified  by  the  state  of  the 
poor  in  England  and  Ireland. 

In  England,  where  the  land-holders  are  more  temper- 
ate, and  humane,  and  less  dissipated,  the  poor  are  better 
paid,  though  they  enjoy  but  little  repose.  In  the  latter 
country,  the  dissipation  and  hard  character  of  the  Irish 
gentlemen,  render  the  state  of  the  peasant  very  misera- 
ble, though  both  countries  are  governed  by  nearly  the 
name  lavas'. 

In;  France,  where  they  have  been  obliged,  in  the  late 
revolutioiTto  stretch  out  the  hand  of  the  law  to  draw  the 
peasant  Jj'orn  an  abyss  of  misery,  as  soon  as  the  estab- 
lishment .ftf  government  shall  remove  the  fears  of  the 
rich,  the  afolition  of  taxes,  feudal  rights,  &c.  &c.  will  be 
demandedv<either  from  tne  labor  or  purse  of  the  poor-; 
for  the  rich, man  has  the  same  advantage  over  him  in  the 
barter  of  his  labor,  as  an  opulent  usurer  over  the  neces- 
sitous borrower,  and  dictates  the  contract.  If  law  in- 
terfere to  relieve  the  poor,  by  fixing  the  quantity  and  price 
of  labor,  policy  urges  the  competition  of  nations  to  de- 
mand muchjabor  at  a  low  price,  in  order  that  commerce 
may  be  extended,  and  moral  motion  propelled  by  ignor- 
ance, forms  millions  of  miserable  ducts  or  identities,  to 
contaminate  the  stages  of  happiness,  through  which  ani- 
mate matter,  in  its  eternal  revolution,  commutes  the  in- 
dissoluble connection  of  identity  and  Nature. 


TftE    TRANSMUTATIONS    0?  NATURE.  81 

The  only  part  of  the  religion  of  Nature  that  demands 
•expiicntiwi  m«n  its  novelty  and  importance  is,  the  con- 
nection between  at-H*  iwd  Xartere. 

fck;!f  is  a  w.ilcfMl  someriiTNg  arising  from  the  aggre- 
gate maw  «f  Nature  and  diftfttlving  by  separation  of  the 
parts  iii'.o  the  sai«e  n^ss,  which  sends*  forth  in  other 
combinations  tin:  same  something  or  indestructible  mat- 
ter, eternally  connected  with  its  integer  as  heat  is  with  fire, 
or  any  other  effect  with  its  cause;  The  mode  of  this 
connection,  human  intellect  cannot  comprehend,  but  must 
assent  to  its  existence.  Its  utility  is  alone  sufficient  to 
inspire  this  irlea,  as  the  happiness  of  man  could  not  he 
perfect  without  it ;  for  though  the  virtuous  and  benevo- 
lent idea,  to  will  for  yourself,  might  establish  a  system  of 
temporal  happiness,  yet  the  mind  would  want  grandeur 
and  expansion  to  support  that  simple  truth  without  the 
comprehensible  doctrine  of  immortality,  in  *lhe  indisso- 
luble connection  with  Nature,  which  gives  us  an  eternal 
interest  to  remove  all  evil  from  the  course  of  Nature,  in 
which  we  ever  have,  and  ever  shall  continue  to  exist. 

Body  and  identity  of  man  or  manhood,  like  fire  and 
heat,  may  be  changed  or  commuted,  and  in  portions  what 
was  fire  may  become  man.  and  what  was  man  become 
fire;  the  connection  with  Nature  being  the  same  in  all 
its  parts,  animate  or  inanimate  ;  but  motion  in  the  for- 
mer has  the  power  of  procuring  happy  combinations  or 
identities;  and  the  volition  that  propels  that  motion  is 
motived  by  happiness,  which  it  procures  to  its  present, 
and  perpetuates  to  all  future  stages  of  its  revolution  in- 
to sensitive  Nature,  by  which  self,  or  the  moral  system, 
is  temporally  and  eternally  benefited. 

The  religion  of  Nature  differs  from  invented  religion, 
as  the  former  adores  the  effect  of  motion,  which  is  com- 
prehensible, and  the  latter  the  cause' of  motion,  which  ig» 
incomprehensible. 

The  effect  of  moral  motion,  which  is  to  procure  hap- 
piness or  well-being  to  all  sensitive  Nature,  through  the 
volition  and  intellectual  faculty  of  man,  proves  self,  or 
the  moral  system,  tbe  instrument  of  that  motion,  to  be 


62  UNIVERSAL  HUMANITY". 

the  only  god  or  intelligence  that  ought  to  command  the 
veneration  of  mankind,  and  recognized  under  the  unitary 
attribute  of  utility  to  the  moral  system,  or  recognized  self. 

When  wisdom  opens  on  the  mind  of  man,  self  feels 
an  inceptive  expansion,  which  in  a  parallel  progress  with 
its  cause,  leads  the  mind  to  a  view  of  the  extensive  chain 
of  all  Nature,  whose  extremes  are  infinite  and  undiscov- 
erable ;  but  such  a  length  of  it  is  manifested,  as  shows 
the  mind  how  the  motion  of  one  link  agitates  the  whole, 
and  that  the  least  violence  committed  on  a  fly,  agitates 
the  whole  chain,  and  communicates  its  vibration  to  all 
sensitive  Nature. 

Let  us  suppose  that  a  man,  who   is  incommoded  by  a 
fly,  instead   of  driving  it  away,  kills  it.     Utility  to  the 
system  of  Nature,  the  only  standard  of  moral  motion  or 
action,  may  be  applied  to  this  act  in  the  following  man- 
ner: Tne   fly  in  committing  an  act  of  violence  on  rny 
body,  agitates  the  chain  of  Nature  :  it  is  useful  to  re- 
move this  cause,  but  utility  does  not  demand  the  annihi- 
lation  of    it   by   death,    because  it   disproportions  the 
means  to  the   end,  and  infects,  by  a  motive  of  resent- 
ment, the  disposition  of  the  mind  for  universal  sympathy 
and  benevolence.     The  destruction  of  the  tiger  and  lion, 
when  brought  to  the  standard  of  utility,  may  be  justified 
in  proportion  to  the  violence  they  cause  the  human  spe- 
cies, which,  as  being  the  most  happy  existence  of  matter, 
is  to  be  preferred  to  the  brute.      When   the  tiger  infest* 
the  environs  of  man's  habitation,  utility  requires  him  to 
be  destroyed,  and   this  would   cause  no  vibration  of  the 
chain,  because  it  would  re-establish  a  counterpoise  to  the 
effect  of  the  concussion  began  by  the  violence  of  the  ti- 
ger; but  when  the  hunter  wantonly  seeks  him  in  the 
forest  to  destroy  him,  to   promote  the   pleasure  of  the 
chase,  the  chain  of  Nature  would  be  agitated  by  this  act 
of  remote  utility ;  -for  utility  must   be  urgent  to  justify 
the  least  act  of  violence,  otherwise  the  volition  becomes 
corrupted,  and  the  source  of  moral  motion  being  pollu- 
ted, its  streams  would  convey  the  cause  of  moral  pesti- 
lence or  vice  over  all  humanity. 


THE   RELIGION    OF   NATURE.  83 

It  is  needless,  after  demonstrating  the  injury  of  vio- 
lence to  brutes  on  the  whole  system  of  self  or  Nature,  to 
bring  examples  of  the  higher  injury  of  that  committed  hy 
man  on  man.  This  is  discovered  hy  the  weakest  minds 
in  a  state  of  barbarism,  and  laws  and  customs  are  es- 
tablished to  prevent  it ;  but  these  having  only  a  partial 
and  local  effect,  the  violence  of  nation  on  nation  has  cor- 
rupted their  domestic  institutions,  and  the  collective  vio- 
lence of  despotic  government  has  destroyed  the  peaceful 
effect  of  custom  in  private  life,  and  the  existence  of  man 
is  dragged  on,  through  a  system  of  civil  and  moral  vio- 
lence, to  death  or  a  new  birth.  Error  has  so  riveted  her 
chains  on  humanity,  that  if  any  child  of  Nature  inspired 
by  sympathy,  probity  and  wisdom,  (which  bind  him  to  sub- 
stitute the  silken  cord  of  self  in  system,)  should  dare  to 
break  the  chain  of  civil  and  religious  superstition, 
he  would  be  regarded  as  an  enemy  to  that  Nature,  whose 
cause  he  maintains,  and  whose  reign  he  labors  to  es- 
tablish. 

The  Thames  that  flows  through  London,  though  de- 
spised in  its  inanimate  state,  after  it  has  passed  the  va- 
rious conduit-;  of  water-engines,  aqueducts  and  boilers, 
in  a  few  hours  is  taken  by  digestion  into  the  system  of 
man — as  a  portion  of  whom,  it  views  the  proud  turrets 
it  has  but  just  washed — eats  of  the  fish  it  had  served  as 
tin  element — speaks  as  an  orator  in  the  senate — to  di- 
rect, cleanse,  or  contract  the  stream  of  which  a  few 
imui'S  before  it  formed  a  part,  murmuring  under  West- 
minster bridge,  and  perhaps  ascending  to  the  acme  of  mo- 
ral perfection  in  a  child  of  Nature,  it  prepares  happy 
identities  for  the  remainder  of  its  water,  which  rises  in  a 
few  hours  from  the  inanimate  muddy  bed  of  the  Thames, 
to  a  state  of  sentiment  of  eternal  and  indissoluble  con- 
nection with  Nature,  or  intellectual  existence,  where  wis- 
dom systematizes  happiness,  and  consciousness  enjoys 
it ;  and  where  self,  expanded  to  the  boundaries  of  all 
Nature,  moves  in  an  irrefragable  moral  system  to  appro- 
priate and  universalize  well-being  to  all  sensitive  matter, 
in  lime  and  eternity.  *18 


S4  THE   RETRIBUTION  OF   NATURE. 

The  sheep  and  oxen  that  some  hours  ago  filled  Smith- 
field  with  their  groans,  under  the  cruel  goads  of  brutal 
drivers,  after  passing  the  short  stages  of  the  slaughter- 
house, kitchen  and  table,  become  orators  in  the  houses 
of  parliament,  and  dictate  laws  to  relieve  their  dt  relic  ted 
and  tormented  relatives,  into  whose  identities  their  con- 
nections may  again  return,  and  profit  of  that  sympathy 
an  ft  probity,  which  was  intended  to  relieve  others.  O 
religionists !  here  is  a  code  of  retributory  laws,  of  re- 
wards and  punishments,  if  your  intellectual  idol  of  wor- 
ship, had  foeen  supported  by  such  a  system,  he  would 
have  been  less  odious,  though  not  less  imaginary. 

Let  the  proud  and  ignorant  tyrants  of  the  earth,  called 
kings,  reflect  that  portions  of  the  pompous  body  of  roy- 
alty, carried  in  the  coach  of  state,  in  the  revolutions  of  a 
few  moments,  hours,  days  or  years,  may  be  in  the  bumble 
body  of  the  horse  drawing  some  other  proud  and  ignor- 
ant human  identity ;  and  that  the  incomprehensible, 
though  avowed  and  conscious  connection  of  identity  and 
Nature  is  eternally  changing  its  position,  and  the  matter 
in  human  idmtity,  the  source  and  cause  of  moral  motkin, 
is  capable  of  rendering  that  position  happy  or  miserable 
to  all  sensitive  Nature. 

This  reflection  contains  in  itself  all  the  principles  of 
wisdom  and  virtue— shows  the  intimate  connection  (?f 
all  matter,  anrnate  and  inanimate — improves  and  aug- 
ments that  sympathy,  which  intuitively  testifies  to  its 
truth,  and  renders  coercion,  the  real  enemy  of  happiness 
and  well-being — abhorred  aaid  avoided-— expands  self 
into  system,  dissipates  the  cJhaos  of  the  moral  worU,  and 
reduces  it  to  an  order  of  system  and  revolution,  similar 
to,  and  a-s  unchangeable  as  that  of  the  physical  world. 

The*rgnorafit  and  unhappy  being,  whose  volition  dares 
violate  the  liberty  of  any  sensitive  part  of  Nature,  cau- 
ses by  that  <x*»c*ssi<*»  such  a  vibration  on  sympathy,  or 
the  universal  -chain  of  Nature,  as  communicates  a  dreadful 
shock  of  misery  to  the  present,  and  also  to  the  future 
stages  of  his  connection  with  Nature. 


YBE    MISGUIDANCE    OF    IGNORANCE.  fe 

The 'cause  of  these  concussions  or  criminal  operations 
of  the  animal  man  is,  ignorance ;  for  if  he  had  strength 
of  intellect  to  comprehend  the  moral  system  of  self,  the 
centre,  and  sensitive  Nature,  the  sphere,  united,  it  would 
be  as  impossible  for  him  to  do  the  least  act  of  violence, 
by  forcing  his  will  upon  another,  as  to  bore  a  hole  in  the 
ship  on  which  he  is  a  passenger,  or  pull  down  the  lower 
story  of  a  house  of  which  he  is  an  inhabitant,  because 
the  apartment  was  his  own. 

In  the  Religion  of  Nature  all  idea  of  merit  and  de- 
merit is  done  away,  for  the  only  difference  between  men 
consists  in  the  degree  of  wisdom  they  possess.  All  men 
being  in  pursuit  of  the  same  two  objects,  truth  and  hap 
piness,  they  will  conduct  self  thereto,  according  to  the 
different  directions  their  weaker  or  stronger  mental  facul- 
ties furnish.  The  assassin,  who  murders,  and  the  child 
of  Nature,  who  saves  a  fellow-creature,  have  the  sam-e 
end  itt  view,  .viz.  happiness.  The  former  in  a  state  oi 
ignorance  mistakes  the  means,  and  the  latter,  through 
wisdom,  takes  the  right  means,  ar.d  arrives  at  the  ohject. 
The  owe  is  an  -object  of  pity,  which  having  led  a  life  of 
misery,  is  annihilated  by  the  laws  of  society,  and  broke  in 
pieces,  like  an  ill-formed  vessel,  and  returned  to  the  great 
mass  of  clay,  from  whence  be  may  be  renewed  in  a  more 
perfect  form  or  existence. 

This  proves  the  necessity  and  infinite  advantage  and 
importance  of  augmenting  the  powers  of  thought  or  hu- 
man intellect,  which  can  only  be  done  by  a  free  commu- 
nication of  sentiment  of  all  mankind  ;  and  all  individuals 
or  bodies  of  men,  who  under  the  influence  i*f  vulgar  fears 
and  prejudices,  are  alarmed  al  the  progress  of  truth,  and 
attempt,  by  force  and  violence,  to  restrain  ils  operations, 
are  traitors  to  self  and  Nature, 

Truth,  it  is  said,  is  dangerous  ;  yes,  it  is  indeed,  but 
it  is  to  error  only  ;  for  truth  -cannot  be  -dangerous  to 
truth.  This  prejudice  has  been  supported  by  mistaking 
relative  for  abstract  truth. 

The  moment  the  beacon  of  wisdom,  or  universal  truth 
in  iUwj  system  «»f  sdf  a«d  Nature,  is  devated,  the  rocks 


8o  THE   RELIGION    OF   NATURE. 

of  relative  truth,  mistaken  as  havens,  are  discovered,  and 
the  pilot,  Reason,  instead  of  casting  anchor  thereon,  pas- 
ses on  with  the  gentle  breeze  of  reform,  to  approximate 
the  glorious  and  eternal  haven  of  happiness  to  all  sensi- 
tive Nature. 

Wiiile  the  moral  horizon  is  dark  with  error  and  preju- 
dice, the  rocks  of  relative  truth  are  undiscovered,  and 
the  absurd  and  destructive  truths,  institutions  of  man- 
kind, an;  sanctified.  The  inquisition  in  rtpain,  that  mo- 
ral monster,  becomes  benevolence  and  truth,  when  meas- 
ured by  the  following  considerations,  or  relative  standard: 

If  the  Spaniards  ar*  permitted  through  the  liberty  of 
tin;  press,  to  introduce  heresy,  or  the  Protestant  religion, 
the  consequence  of  this  among  a  bigotted  people,  would 
be  civil  war  and  bloodshed. 

The  political  inquisition,  which  reigns  in  every  country 
on  the  globe,  except  America,  reasons  from  the  same  rela- 
tive standard,  in  order  to  rebel  against  the  rights  of  Na- 
ture, and  to  impeach  its  prime  minister,  human  thought, 
by  barbarous  restrictions  on  the  liberty  of  the  press,  lest 
political  heresies  might  produce  dangerous  reforms,  by 
the  violent  means  of  insurrections. 

This  sjreat  variety  of  standard  of  opinion  is  the  cause  of  all 
the  moral  evils  which  afflict  human  nature,  who  demands 
one  absolute  standard  of  wisdom,  virtue,  truth  and  hap- 
piness This  standard,  the  Religion  of  Nature  has  es- 
tablished with  the  clearest  conviction,  and  teaches  in  the 
simplest  modes  (or  comprehension,  to  lead  mankind  to 
the  acme  of  essence,  intellectual  existence,  and  an  en- 
lightened state  of  Nature. 


THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE.          87 

PRINCIPLES  OF  ASSOCIATION 

OR 

CIVILIZATION. 

IT  is  evident  that  moral  motion  can  never  conduct  man 
in  the  orbit  of  harmony  or  society,  till  it  has  discovered 
some  common  centre  or  sun  of  attraction. 

This  centre  then  must  be  self,  and  must  be  discovered 
b/  the  free  and  perfect  exercise  of  the  mental  faculties, 
which  lays  open  the  knowledge  of  self,  and  in  conse- 
quence, the  means  of  procuring  well-being  and  happi- 
ness ;  and  shows  the  free  exercise  of  a  wise  volition  to 
be  the  only  principle  on  which  is  founded  the  happy  ex- 
istence of  man. 

As  the  passion  of  self  preservation,  or  safety  of  life, 
operates  with  great  power  against  the  principles  of  natur- 
al religion,  or  eternal  and  universal  happiness  of  the 
great  integer  Nature,  which  is — to  do  no  violence  to  any 
part  of  sensitive  Nature,  though  the  safety  of  life  is  to 
6e  acquired  by  such  an  act ,  for  the  period  of  identified 
existence  is  as  nothing  in  comparison  with  our  eternal 
existence  in  the  integer  Nature,  and  violence  once  per- 
mitted becomes  a  leaven  that  acerbates  the  great  mass 
with  long  ages  of  misery,  of  which  man,  as  being  ever  a 
part  of  Nature,  must  in  future  partake. 

The  first  operation  of  wisdom  is  to  procure  and  pre- 
serve the  means  of  existence,  and  secure  to  it  absolute 
liberty;  and  as  for  this  purpose  many  selfs,  or  beings  are 
to  be  concentrated,  the  principles  of  natural  religion  and 
morality  are  to  be  inculcated,  and  the  mental  faculties  are 
to  be  improved  and  exercised,  to  obtain  a  state  of  intel- 
lectual existence. 

Man,  in  this  state,  sensible  of  his  relation  to  all  Na- 
ture, must  in  all  social  organization  comprehend  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  globe  upon  which  he  exists,  and  so 
subdivide  and  connect  this  universal  association,  as  to 
give  it  one  spring  and  one  object,  viz.  the  well-being  of 
all  animated  Nature. 


88          THE  REVELATION  OP  NATURE. 

This  must  have  its  source  in  social  subdivisions,  or 
partial  cohabitations.  The  number  of  individuals  to  be 
contained  in  these  must  be  directed  by  the  means  of  as- 
sistance, comfort  and  communication.  The  first  is  ne- 
cessary to  produce  subsistence,  as  in  the  cultivation  _ol 
the  lands ;  the  second  to  promote  the  pleasures  of  life 
in  amusements  and  conversation  ;  and  the  last  to  exer- 
cise and  extend  the  intellectual  faculties,  and  form  such 
a  social  and  wise  volition  as  may  assimilate,  by  its  con- 
formity to  natural  religion,  the  volition  of  all  other  co- 
habitations, forming  the  universal  association,  and  pro- 
curing thereby  to  man  the  plenitude  of  well-being  in  a 
state  of  enlightened  Nature. 

These  cohabitations  should  consist  of  no  more  than 
one  hundred  males,  and  one  hundred  females;  they 
should  live  in  one  house,  eat  at  the  same  table,  partici- 
pate in  labor  and  pleasure  in  common,  and  cultivate  a 
general  volition  as  their  guide ;  this  should  be  communi- 
cated to  other  cohabitations  by  missions,  and  twenty  of 
those  might  be  called  a  community,  twenty  communities 
might  form  a  province,  and  twenty  provinces  a  common- 
wealth, twenty  common-wealths  might  form  unions,  and 
twenty  unions  the  university  or  centre  of  association  of 
the  whole  globe.  The  reciprocal  communications  of 
these  divisions  by  missions  might  concent  re  the  volitions, 
and  direct  and  augment  the  progress  of  wisdom,  to  con- 
firm or  improve  the  state  of  enlightened  Nature. 

In  this  state,  law  would  be  liberty,  wisdom  virtue,  and 
volition  happiness.  The  relation  of  Nature  would  su- 
persede all  other,  and  every  one  would  be  either  the  pa- 
rent or  the  child  of  the  community  ;  even  erroneous  civi- 
lization holds  this  extension  and  affection  so  sacred,  that 
a  citizen  of  the  world  reaches  the  acme  in  the  gradations 
of  virtue  and  fame;  to  what  height,  then,  on  the  pinna- 
cle of  virtue  and  fame  must  a  citizen  of  Nature  rise,  if 
the  weak  intellects  of  man  were  capable  of  contempla- 
ting such  a  character,  or  could  discover,  by  improved  in- 
tellectual faculties,  the  virtue  of  that  scale,  whose  basis 
instructive  truth  has  already  made  familiar  to  their  infan- 
tine knowledge  ? 


' 


THE    PERMANENCE    OF    TRUTH.  89 

Wherever  in  this  work  I  have  attempted  to  reconcile 
the  truth  of  the  religion  of  Nature  to  practice,  in  the 
present  ignorant  and  miserable  state  of  mankind  I  have 
been  sensible  of  its  extreme  incongruity  and  apparent 
extravagance,  and  know  well  the  opportunities  to  ridi- 
cule it,  which  I  have  furnished  to  the  talent  of  ingenuity 
supplanting  the  talent  of  thought  ;  hut  the  truth  of  Na- 
ture is  above  all  the  powers  of  wit,  and  the  man,  whose 
extreme  sensibility  and  sympathy  permits  him  not,  know- 
ingly, to  tread  upon  an  ant,  may  be  thought  extravagant ; 
but  1  defy  all  the  powers  of  wit  and  ingenuity  to  render 
him  ridiculous. 

Abstract  truth  may  be  disseminated  like  seed ;  and  it 
cannot  be  planted,  but  its  growth  or  vegetation  will  be 
equally  certain,  though  it  cannot  be  directed  or  explained  ; 
I  demand  only  the  uncontrolled  liberty  of  the  press,  an  : 
that  is  established  in  America,  to  which  country  the  chil ; 
of  Nature  must  retire,  if  error  and  prejudice  should  per- 
secute or  impede  the  promulgation  of  human  thought, 
the  germ  of  Nature  to  produce  the  perfection  of  exis- 
tence. 


^  THE   REVELATION   OP   NATURE. 

A   REVIEW 

OF     THE     EFFECT     OF    THE 

PRESENT  INSTITUTIONS  OF  SOCIETY, 

TO    PROMOTE    OR    IMPEDE    THE, 

PROGRESS  OF  MAN 

TO    A    STATE    OF 

INTELLECTUAL  EXISTENCE  OR 
ENLIGHTENED    NATURE. 

IN  order  to  make  this  important  investigation,  we 
must  first  expose  the  nature  of  the  animal,  man  ;  we  find 
him  to  be  a  machine  of  matter,  composed  of  affections 
or  passions,  and  intellectual  faculties  to  direct  those 
passions,  to  perpetuate,  assure,  and  render  happy  his  ex- 
istence; the  affections  cannot  he  gratified,  nor  the  intel- 
lect improved,  but  by  placing  him  in  a  social  state. 

When  man  was  first  placed  in  a  social  state,  if  his  in- 
tellectual powers  were  perfect,  association  would  be  a 
happy  collision,  whose  force  would  produce  only  happy 
sensations,  and  procure  universal  well-being ;  but  as  it* 
requires  ..a  revolution  of  many  ages  of  social  collision,  in 
order  to  produce  wisdom,  or  a  knowledge  of  self,  man- 
kind in  social  connections  are  agitated  by  concussions 
in  proportion  to  their  numbers  and  their  ignorance,  and 
have  established  systems  of  coercion,  to  secure  them 
from  the  violence  of  these  concussions,  and  have  been 
obliged  to  give  up  much  of  their  happiness  for  a  precari- 
ous security  of  existence. 

This  coercion  operates  with  less  or  more  force,  in 
proportion  to  the  increased  passions  of  the  different 
species  of  man. 

The  Laplander  having  no  wants  or  passions  except  the 
primary  ones  of  hunger  and  lust,  and  these  being  abun- 
dantly provided  for  by  Nature,  knows  no  coercion*  and 


LAW-CRAFT   AND    PRIEST- CRAFT.  91 

at  the  same  time  the  intellectual  faculties  not  being  called 
upon  for  aid,  leave  the  man  in  a  state  of  existence  hardly 
superior  to  the  beast,  having  but  little  consciousness  ot 
oeing,  and  therefore  knowing  neither  the  extreme  of  pain 
nor  pleasure.  Could,  however,  a  civilized  being,  from  a 
love  of  liberty,  be  brought  to  a  residence  among  these 
people,  to  seek  an  asylum  from  coercion,  and  to  calm  the 
tempest  of  his  various  acquired  passions,  he  might  com- 
municate to  them  his  wisdom  without  his  wants,  and  by 
that  means  bring  them  to  a  state  of  intellectual  existence, 
and  enlightened  Nature  :  in  which  the  mind  possesses  the 
full  torce  of  its  faculties,  to  direct  the  volition  to  happi- 
ness, and  the  body,  its  physical  powers  unrestrained,  to 
execute  that  volition  in  the  plenitude  of  liberty. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  modes  and  principles  of  coer- 
cion, or  government,  as  employed  by  the  different  associ- 
ations of  mankind. 

Almost  all  nations  are  subjugated  by  two  sorts  of  co- 
ercion,— civil  and  religious, — the  one  exercised  by  the 
magistrates  or  king,  and  the  other  by  the  priests  or  cler- 
gy :  The  political  despotism  is  the  more  active,  and  re- 
strains the  violent  concussions  of  the  various  passions 
of  its  subjects  ;  while  the  church,  under  pretence  of  alli- 
ance, undermines  and  relaxes  the  power  of  the  state  au- 
thorities, though  apparently  it  upholds  them. 

That  the  concussions  or  violence  of  society  ever  have 
been,  and  still  are  augmented  by  religion,  is  past  all 
doubt ;  but  as  it  pretends  to  compensate  these  evils  by 
augmenting  the  terror  of  punishment  in  the  hand  of  the 
civil  magistrate,  it  procures  a  general  toleration  or  culti- 
vation from  the  torce  of  this  illusion. 

Let  us  consider  these  pretensions,  and  endeavor  to 
expose  with  irresistible  evidence  the  real  existence  of  this 
illusion. 

.  Theologists,  after  having  exhausted  all  the  fertility  of 
human  imagination,  have  personified  their  god  under  so 
many  shapes,  that  in  the  darker  ages  of  the  world  they 
excited  ridicule,  but  now  cause  convulsive  laughter. 
They  have,  at  the  same  time,  placed  in  his  hands  various 

19 


92  THE    DELUSION    OF   THGOLOGY. 

and  dreadful  modes  of  punishment,  which,  had  they  been 
rendered  inevitable  and  inexpiable  upon  any  breach  of  the 
moral  law,  would,  no  doubt,  have  been  efficient;  but  then 
the  inutilily  of  religion,  or  the  profession  of  priestcraft, 
would  have  been  discovered ;  so  that  in  order  to  render 
their  agency  of  some  consequence,  they  declared  all 
crimes  expiable  by  confession  and  penitence,  which  their 
ministry  is  to  direct  ^and  dispose  of.  Hence  their  detes- 
table encouragement  to  vice  by  using  the  religious  assu- 
rance, that  "There  is  more  joy  in  Heaven  over  ope  sin- 
ner that  repenteth,  than  in  ninety-nine  just  persons  who 
need  no  repentance. 5;  And  this  their  consolation  and 
hope  held  out  to  villainy  and  turpitude,  is  sufficient  to 
damn  all  their  religion,  without  requiring  any  further  tes- 
timony. 

The  consolatory  joy  testified  in  hallelujahs  or  songs  of 
triumphant  vice,  at  the  execution  of  malefactors,  going  to 
receive  the  inheritance  of  virtue,  would  alone  be  suffi- 
cient, [were  its  influence  general,]  to  remove  all  terrors 
from  the  sword  of  temporal  justice  in  the  hand  of  the 
magistrate,  and  threaten  the  dissolution  of  order  and  ex- 
tinction of  virtue. 

Let  us  leave  this  enemy  to  human  happiness  in  a  state 
of  contempt  below  ridicule,  and  contemplate  with  equal 
astonishment  and  regret  the  illusion  in  which  the  civil 
government  remains,  respecting  the  utility  of  priestcraft, 
to  support  social  order  or  civil  authority,  and  attribute 
its  cause  to  the  dreadful  apprehensions  the  mind  re- 
ceives when  agitated  by  important  reforms  or  inno- 
vations. 

Let  us  now  consider  how  coercion  operates  in  the  or- 
ganization of  civil  government,  to  guard  mankind  from 
the  effects  of  ignorance,  or  the  violences  and  concussions 
caused  by  the  animal  man's  not  knowing  self,  and  conse- 
quently the  means  of  procuring  well-being. 

The  violence  of  individuals  in  the  first  state  of  society 
upon  the  personal  liberty  of  each  other,  facilitated  the 
enterprises  of  ambitious  princes  to  establish  a  system  of 
coercion. 


THE  TYRANNY  OF  GOVERNMENT.          93 

Property,  or  the  separation  of  interest,  and  personal 
security,  were  established,  and  liable  to  be  invaded  only 
by  one  person,  [or  a  few,]  instead  of  every  one.  This, 
in  the  beginning  or  early  age  of  society,  was  found  to  be 
advantageous  :  as  unoccupied  land  was  abundant,  and 
population  scanty,  there  could  be  no  poverty ;  but  as 
mankind  increased,  this  ultimately  became  an  enormous 
evil,  subjugating  millions  to  the  caprice  and  avarice  of  a 
few,  and  was  the  origin  of  all  moral  evil. 

The  first  principle  of  association,  subsistence,  being 
thus  destroyed,  it  became  necessary  then  in  order  to  se- 
cure the  submission  of  suffering  indigent  millions  to  de- 
prive them  of  their  liberty ;  and  this  was  effected  by  the 
power  of  law,  or  will  of  princes,  made  known  by  the 
establishment  of  civil  institutions. 

Happiness  and  existence  being  invaded  by  their  pre- 
tended protector,  coercion,  nothing  was  left  sacred.  In- 
stitutions of  past  ages  were  confirmed  and  augmented  by 
new  ones  in  the  present.  The  demon,  coercion,  extend-* 
ed  its  province,  changed  parents  into  cruel  task-masters, 
perverted  the  innocent  desires  and  affections  into  vices, 
the  inimical  and  vicious  passions  of  violence  and  domin- 
ion into  virtues,  and  completed  the  destruction  of  liber- 
ty and  happiness  ;  and  coercion,  which  was  established 
to  protect  the  wise  and  virtuous  from  the  ignorant  and 
wicked,  changed  its  character  of  protector  to  that  of 
tyrant. 

In  the  early  ages  of  the  world,  the  ignorance  that  per- 
vaded all  mankind,  by  accumulating  men  in  society, 
formed  a  Colossus  of  vice,  and  they  continually  acting 
with  augmented  passion  and  violence,  invaded  the  asso- 
ciations of  each  other.  Social  safety  now  demanded 
what  individual  began,  the  augmentation  of  political  co- 
,  ercion  or  energy  of  nations.  This  necessity  rivetted  the 
chains  on  individual  liberty,  and  coercion  was  augmented 
to  universal  despotism. 

I  hope  that  the  time  is  arrived,  and  that  this  work  may 
have  the  glory  to  mark  the  epoch,  when  human  reason, 
rising  from  the  iron  bed  of  error,  awakened  by  the  sun  of 


94  T«E  REVELATION    OF  NATURE. 

wisdom,  shall  invert  all  the  faculties  of  the  mind,  to 
which  knowledge  has  given  energy,  upon  self,  and  eleva- 
ting its  eagle  flight  above  all  customs  and  habits  of  in- 
stitution or  education,  look  down  upon  the  uncovered 
labyrinth  of  error  and  ignorance,  and  direct  the  clue 
which  shall  lead  wandering,  confounded  man  to  the  door 
of  intellectual  existence  and  enlightened  Nature. 

The  basis  on  which  coercion  is  at  present  established 
is,  social  defence ;  but  this  basis  will  wear  away  as 
wisdom  increases  and  nations  become  collectively  virtu- 
ous and  just. 

Industry,  the  offspring  of  avarice,  ambition  and  discon- 
tent, in  a  state  of  tempestuous  misery,  will  no  longer  be 
considered  as  a  virtue,  when  compared  to  the  repose  of 
benevolence,  peace  and  content,  in  a  state  of  intellectual 
existence  and  enlightened  Nature;  and  the  peaceful  monks 
of  a  convent,  when  divested  of  hypocrisy  and  supersti- 
tion, will  be  regarded  as  the  magnanimous  conquerors  of 
self;  and  sully  by  the  comparison,  the  predatory  triumphs 
of  Alexander  the  Great,  whom  poets  and  historians  have 
immortalized,  while  reason  despises  both  the  subject, 
and  the  adulating  and  silly  authors. 

While  ignorance  darkens  the  moral  atmosphere,  indus- 
try is  highly  advantageous  to  its  votaries,  individually  or 
nationally.  Individually,  they  extend  the  boundaries  of 
volition,  and  nationally  they  acquire  power  to  invade  the 
liberty  and  property  of  neighboring  countries,  and  for  the 
present  augment  their  own,  though  the  violence  they  com- 
mit will  eventually  produce  its  destruction,  by  the  au- 
thority of  example  and  the  law  of  custom. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  effects  of  civilization,  or  po- 
litical, civil  and  domestic  coercion  upon  the  well-being 
of  the  animal  man,  and  compare  them  with  the  effects 
of  a  contrary  system  of  liberty  or  enlightened  Nature. 

Domestic  or  parental  coercion  begins  with  life,  and 
ends  with  manhood. 

Through  all  this  long  period,  the  parent  participates 
bis  authority  and  care  with  the  tutor,  to  cultivate  wisdom 
and  virtue  in  the  mind  of  the  child.  The  tutor  places 


THE   EDUCATION    OF   ClVlttZAtltiN.  95 

the  child  on  a  bench,  to  which  he  is  chained  by  the  ter- 
rors of  punishment.  Books  are  presented  to  his  mind, 
which  observes  only  the  words,  and  transfers  them  to 
memory  the  ideas,  fortunately  for  the  cause  of  wisdom, 
arc  beyond  its  capacity.  This  occupation  of  the  memo- 
ry in  sounds  and  signs  is  interrupted  by  a  few  moments 
of  play,  or  a  vacation,  spent,  in  the  company  of  parents, 
who  crowd  precept  upon  precept  into  the  mind,  vvitlr  a 
velocity  in  proportion  to  the, short  time  of  domestic  re- 
sidence. The  child  has  received  these  into  the  memory 
with  the  same  momentary  impression  and  retention,  as 
the  tutor's  instruction) and  the  example  of  his  comrades 
or  school-fellows  erases  them  totally,  by  the  ordinary 
customs  and  habits  of  children,  who  constantly  when  left 
to  themselves,  as  they  generally  are  in  the  present  sys- 
tem of  education,  exercise  every  kind  of  personal  vio- 
lence to  force  their  will  upon  their  inferiors  in  age  and 
strength,  and  arrive  at  the  age  of  manhood  with  a  heart 
formed  to  violence,  or  the  ALL  of  vice  ;  and  a  head  full 
of  letters,  and  void  of  every  idea  that  might  grow  into 
wisdom,  to  conduct  them  to  the  well-being  of  their  es- 
sence. 

The  code  of  morality  which  he  has  read  at  school, 
placing  virtue  in  the  abstinence  from  pleasure  and  from 
the  gratification  of  the  most  innocent  of  our  desires, 
finishes  his  instruction,  and  sends  him  forth  to  the 
world,  to  perform  his  part  as  a  link  in  the  chain  of  so- 
ciety. 

He  now  sets  out  in  his  career  of  life,  with  knowledge 
irutfead  of  wisdom  for  a  guide.  This  directs  him  to  the 
means  of  subsistence  ;  but  as  his  being,  with  a  strong 
and  innate  propensity,  lusts  after  happiness,  bis  senses, 
which  alone  can  furnish  the  ingredients  or  means,  are  im- 
mediately employed,  and  under  the  blind  guidance  of 
knowledge,  the  shadowy  substitute  of  wisdom,  he  is  led 
to  mistake  pain  for  pleasure,  misery  for  happiness,  and 
vice  for  virtue. 

The  code  of  ethics  has  so  closely  connected  sympathy 
and  probity,  the  all  of  virtue,  with  the  abstinence  from 
J9* 


1HE   EDUCATION    OF   NATURE. 

pleasure  or  the  means  of  happiness,  that  a  glance  of  de- 
sire or  lascivious  eye  being  cast  on  beauty,  where  Nature 
is  bursting  the  cobweb  barriers  of  illusive  morality,  the 
Rubicon  of  virtue  is  passed,  and  the  whole  chain  of  vir- 
tue is  dissolved,  and  the  extreme  sensibility  of  an  honest 
sympathetic  soul  is  abandoned  to  one  common  sink  of 
infamy,  along  with  inhumanity  and  falsehood. 

Such  is  the  education  of  civilization;  now  let  us  view 
its  opposite,  or  that  of  enlightened  Nature. 

Here  the  child,  associated  in  the  earliest  period  with 
manhood  and  with  society  its  parent,  enjoying  ausolute 
liberty,  following  the  dictates  ol  Nature,  and  controlled 
only  by  the  surrounding  example  and  admonition  of  age, 
receives  spontaneously  the  useful  ideas  of  wisdom,  which 
age  communicates,  while  it  enjoys  all  the  happiness  of 
the  sports  and  plays  of  coequals ;  by  which  system  of 
education  the  body  and  mind  gain  equal  vigor,  and  pre- 
sent the  adult,  elevated  to  a  state  of  intellectual  exis- 
tence, to  enter  upon  a  social  state  of  happiness,  and 
hold  its  place  as  a  link  in  the  extensive  chain  of  all  an- 
imated Nature. 

Wisdom  then/becomes  his  monitor;  directs  and  con- 
trols his  volition  to  the  exact  measure  of  present  and 
eventual  happiness ;  and  well-organized  society,  in  an 
enlightened  state  of  Nature,  guarantees  to  him  the  free 
exercise  of  a  wise  volition,  which  takes  its  course  in  the 
wide  orbit  of  animated  matter  round  the  centre  self,  and 
the  whole  system  is  upheld  by  sympathy,  the  universal 
and  only  moral  law. 

Upon  a  general  comparative  review  of  these  two  sys- 
tems, civilization  seems  to  have  lost  sight  of  Nature, 
and  reasoning  from  relation,  establishes  a  system  of  co- 
ercion to  secure  existence  and  to  establish  misery. 

The  relative  state  of  mankind  may  justify  practice  or 
action  by  necessity;  but  speculation,  or  the  free  opera- 
tions of  human  thought  to  extricate  the  being  from 
wretchedness  or  moral  evil,  can  never  be  controlled  by 
relation  while  it  soars  to  an  eminence  to  take  an  unob- 
structed view  of  the  moral  world ;  but  in  its  descent,  oc 


T«E    REVELATION    OF   NATURE.  91 

the  approximation  of  practice  to  speculation,  then  reason 
allows  sympathy  and  probity,  to  be  temporized  with,  and 
to  cast  a  veil  over  the  effulgence  of  wisdom,  that  the  in- 
tellect may  not  be  confounded  by  its  dazzling  splendor. 

CONCLUSION. 

IT  would  be  happy  for  mankind,  if  the  source  of 
knowledge  [schools  of  learning,]  and  libraries  of  every 
kind,  were  locked  up  from  all  access  ;  and  these  means  so 
effectual  and  so  much  recommended  by  learned  idiots  to 
keep  man  from  the  (as  they  call  it)  "  painful"  study  of 
self,  could  be  temporally  suspended,  and  self  alone  pre- 
sented to  the  contemplation  of  all  mankind  ;  then  would 
the  universaf  standard  of  well-being,  or  truth,  the  sun  of 
the  moral  world,  arise  above  the  dark  hemisphere  of  er- 
ror, and  attract  the  moral  powers  into  the  irrefragable 
order  of  system.  Then  would  the  chaos,  caused  by  of- 
fensive volition  disappear,  and  defensive  volition  become 
a  sacred  and  incontrovertible  maxim,  whose  destruction 
would  be  as  impossible  in  the  moral  world,  as  that  of 
attraction  is  in  the  physical. 

It  may  be  objected,  that  without  the  invasion  or  viola- 
tion of  defensive  volition,  man  would  not  labor  to  pro- 
cure subsistence — this  objection  is  unfounded.  The 
above  maxim  can  prevail  only  in  a  state  of  wisdom,  and 
the  defensive  volition  of  man  guided  thereby,  could  never 
be  disgusted  with  labor,  the  cause  of  life  and  of  health 
of  body  and  mind  ;  he  would  guard  only  against  its  ex- 
cess which  at  present  is  the  cause  of  all  misery  to  civi- 
lized society. 

Another  objection  of  a  more  apparent  justice  and  im- 
portance might  be  raised,  viz.  that  the  education  of  chil- 
dren would  oblige  parents  or  tutors  to  violate  the  defen- 
sive volition  of  man.  The  mode  of  conduct  by  which 
to  avoid  this  violence  we  find  among  nations  in  a  savage 
state  :  surely  then  human  reason  is  able  to  reconcile  and 
modify  that  conduct,  so  as  to  adapt  it  to  gradual  mi- 


THE   REVELATION    OF   NATURE* 

provement.  I  must  here  repeat  the  observation  I  have  so 
often  made  :  that  the  extremities  of  abstract  and  practi- 
cal truth  are  so  distant,  that  it  is  out  of  the  power  of  bu- 
rn m  wisdom  to  unite  them  ;  and  the  vain  attempts  of 
men  who  had  more  learning  than  wisdom  to  effect  this, 
havp  served  only  to  condense  the  clouds  of  truth,  and 
britig  ridicule  upon  wisdom's  self. 

The  great  maxim  in  natural  life,  to  cause,  and  not  to 
force  a  will,  is  adopted  by  ninny  parents,  even  in  the 
present,  slate  of  erroneous  civilization,  in  proportion  as 
they  possess  more  of  the  qualities  of  benevolence  and 
wisdom  ;  and  this  conduct  extended  to  all  their  social 
relations,  wives,  parents  and  subjects,  is  called  liberality, 
and  is  the  true  virtue,  of  Nature,  instinctive  sympathy. 

As  the  system  of  Nature  explained  and  established  in 
the  foregoing  work,  may  have  caused  much  pain  to  ten- 
der minds,  in  separating  them  from  beloved  prejudices, 
the  following  reflections  will,  I  hope,  procure  abundant 
consolation. 

If  I  have,  with  the  gigantic  arm  of  natural  reason,  de- 
throned the  tremendous  phantom  of  imagination,  the  god 
of  error,  created  by  fear,  to  torture  his  own  creatures  to 
gratify  the  vices  of  revenge  and  cruelty,  I  have  substitu- 
ted the  sympathetic  deity,  connection  of  Self  and  Na- 
ture, to  give  eternal  happiness  to  his  creatures,  to  elevate 
the  mortal  to  comprehensible  immortality — to  assure  the 
recompense  of  vice  and  virtue,  which  the  falsehood  o{ 
priest  craft  cannot  alienate  with  the  sophistry  that  calls 
happiness  merit,  and  misery  demerit — to  establish  a  form 
of  rewnrds  and  punishments,  from  which  they  draw  are- 
venue  to  pride  and  avarice. 

Let  us  view  the  situation  of  the  man  of  virtue,  whose 
vol'tion  is  directed  by  wisdom  to  conduct  self  in  its 
double  movement,  round  Us  own  axis  and  in  the  orbit  of 
society.  The  centripetal  force,  or  selfish  volition,  must 
be  prevented  from  being  absorbed  by  attraction  or  sym- 
pathy into  the  orbit  of  other  selfs  or  society.  This 
counterpoise  is  preserved  by  the  intellectual  faculties  or 
wisdom* 


VIRTUE   AND  TICE   SELF-BETRIBUTORY.  99 

If  a  child  of  Nature  sees  a  fellow-creature  drowning, 
he  flies  to  his  assistance,  and  uses  evert  effort  to  save 
him  without  destroying  himself;  so  in  misery  and  distress, 
he  participates  his  competency  or  abundance  to  relieve 
the  object  without  involving  himself.  The  quality  ol 
sympathy  has  that  well-proportioned  energy  to  extend  the 
consciousness  of  existence  into  the  great  orbit  of  sensi- 
tive Nature,  which  is  of  itself  an  intellectual  pleasure 
beyond  description.  The  qualities  of  sympathy  and  pro- 
bity, the  result  of  wisdom,  procure  such  mental  and  bo- 
dily health,  as  makes  happiness  independent  of  accident, 
and  the  comfort,  and  aid,  and  applause  he  receives  from 
the  love  and  esteem  of  his  fellow-creatures,  augment  his 
pleasures  only  as  they  are  tokens  of  a  happiness  of  which 
he  is  himself  both  the  cause  and  recipient. 

What  greater  reward  can  a  child  of  Nature  demand  for 
procuring  so  much  happiness  to  self  in  system  ? 

What  punishment  can  the  unhappy  child  of  civiliza- 
tion dread,  for  suffering  and  causing  misery  which  he  ac- 
quired not  wisdom  to  prevent?  View  the  man  of  vice  agi- 
tated by  the  tempestuous  violence  of  his  passions,  mis- 
taking misery  for  happiness,  pain  for  pleasure;  reduced 
from  want  of  wisdom  to  a  mere  animal  state  of  existence, 
in  order  to  preserve  a  life,  which  any  degree  of  con- 
sciousness would  annihilate ;  his  benevolence  or  friend- 
ship is  but  the  delirium  of  virtue,  or  forgetfulness  of  self 
bestowed  on  vicious  companions,  and  pity  is  all  the  aid 
he  receives  till  his  misery  increases,  when  abandoned  by 
his  associates  in  vice  and  misery,  he  leaves  the  world 
without  ever  realising  that  he  had  been  in  it,  and  his 
connection  assumes  a  future  form,  to  undergo  the  misery 
his  former  connection  had  caused  and  perpetuated. 

Religionists,  through  the  medium  of  the  system  of  Na- 
ture, may  make  a  compromise  with  imaginary  theology, 
by  calling  God  the  effect  of  motion,  instead  of  the  cause; 
the  indissoluble  connection  of  Self  and  Nature — the  im- 
mortal soul ;  and  the  reciprocal  change  of  identity,  or 
medium  of  connection  or  transmutation  of  matter  into 
matter — the  law  of  just  retribution,  since  the  volition  of 


100         THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

man  is  the  cause  of  present  and  future  happiness  or 
misery. 

The  fair  medium  of  connection  or  identity,  called  wo- 
man, seated  in  the  pompous  chariot,  is  every  moment 
changing  its  atoms  with  the  bodies  of  the  horses  that 
draw  it,  in  common  with  all  other  parts  of  Nature.  All 
bodies  are  constantly  changing  their  substance  one  with 
another,  which  proves  the  identity  of  person  to  be  only  a 
duct  or  mould,  through  which  matter  passes  in  its  eternal 
revolution,  and  their  connection  with  Nature  is  the  same 
as  in  the  violin  producing  a  melodious  air,  or  the  human 
body  producing  a  virtuous  volition,  only,  that  the  latter, 
possessing  a  more  complicated  organization,  produces 
consciousness  to  feel  pain  and  pleasure,  and  to  direct 
moral  motion  to  convey  happiness  to  matter  in  time  pre- 
sent and  future. 

As  volition,  therefore,  is  the  cause  of  moral  motion, 
self  is  the  only  agent  of  which  the  human  mind  can  have 
any  comprehension,  and  which  claims  all  the  study  and 
reverence  of  man. 

Self,  when  made  known  by  wisdom,  can  possess  only 
a  defensive  volition  or  desire  to  acquire  happiness  through 
the  medium  of  the  passions,  which  are  all  innocent, 
though  they  may  demand  the  compliance  of  fellow  selfs  ; 
yet,  as  they  are  furnished  with  means  to  conciliate  that 
compliance,  all  violence,  which  alone  renders  passion 
criminal,  becomes  unnecessary,  and  leaves  passion  the 
only  medium  of  happiness. 

The  human  mind  in  a  state  of  ignorance  and  barba- 
rism, when  self  in  system  is  unknown,  forms  offensive 
volition,  which  would  destroy  the  human  species,  if  so- 
ciety did  not  oppose  to  it  the  coercion  of  government ; 
tHs,  however,  not  having  wisdom,  did  but  augment  the 
evil,  by  changing  individual  into  social  violence ;  hence 
all  the  political  evils  of  violence,  war  and  despotism, 
which  reciprocally  augment  each  other,  and  can  never  be 
annihilated  till  the  powers  of  wisdom,  disclosing  the  se- 
crets of  the  moral  world,  lead  the  mind  to  a  knowledge 
of  self  and  Nature. 


THE    DIVERSITIES    OF    CHARACTER.  101 

In  the  present  state  of  mankind,  when  civilization  and 
individual  happiness  are  botli  founded  on  error,  let  us 
view  the  conduct  of  man. 

Every  one  acts  with  an  intention  to  procure  happiness 
to  self.  The  miser  who  contemplates  his  hoard ;  the 
libertine,  who  dissipates  it ;  and  the  prudent  man,  who 
economizes  it ;  act  all  from  the  same  motive,  though 
with  opposite  means.  It  is  not  so  difficult  a  matter  as  it 
at  first  appears  to  determine  accurately  and  positively  the 
different  degrees  of  happiness  or  misery  acquired  by  each. 
The  human  countenance  is  a  true  and  perpetual  index 
of  the  pain  and  pleasure  felt  by  the  heart ;  joy  or  grief, 
when  extreme,  give  the  strongest  tokens,  and  when  weak, 
still  give  indications,  though  not  so  distinct  ;  the  neutral 
state  is  marked  by  an  absence  of  all  tokens. 

Let  a  register  or  diary  be  kept  of  the  countenances  of 
the  three  characters  before  mentioned,  in  the  miser,  in- 
cessant and  strong  indications  of  joy  and  grief,  will  al- 
ternately mark  the  page;  the  nrutrul  state  will  have  but 
few  periods;  and  the  calendar  will  close  its  latter  pages 
of  death  with  unchangeable  tokens  of  extreme  grief. 

The  diary  of  the  libertine  will  have  the  numbers  of 
joy  greatly  exceed  those  of  grief  in  the  early  pages;  but 
the  middle  and  close  will  be  filled  with  invariable  tokens 
of  grief,  caused  by  sickness,  poverty  and  sorrow;  and 
the  page  of  conclusion  will  be  black  with  the  agonies  oi 
a  lingering  death. 

The  prudent  man,  whom  wisdom  directs,  spends  his 
treasure  in  acts  of  benevolence  to  others,  and  in  modi- 
fied pleasure,  which  clears  the  thorns  from  the  roses 
Benevolence  operating  in  the  heart,  leaves  no  vacancy  if 
the  countenance,  but  diffuses  over  it  an  indication  of  joy. 
more  to  be  valued,  on  account  of  its  long  duration,  thar 
the  convulsions  of  sudden  and  extreme  joy.  Pleasure  ol 
which  he  so  wisely  participates,  breaks  upon  the  counte 
nance  with  the  undulations  of  the  zephyr,  to  agitate  th^ 
calm  of  benevolence  ;  and  the  register  of  life  closes 
with  a  calm  ot*  sleep  into  the  renovating  lap  of  his  parenl 
Nature. 


102  THE   ENSLAVEMENT   OF   WOMAN. 

There  are  nations  and  individuals  in  the  world,  the  vi- 
vacity of  whose  conduct  recommends  a  life  of  dissipa- 
tion or  unmodified  pleasure,  as  the  impulse  of  their  pas- 
sions seem  to  drive  them,  without  a  vacuum  through  life  ; 
and  these  are  the  French  and  the  Irish. 

Women,  the  object  and  source  of  pleasure,  are  fond  of 
these  characters,  not  as  they  are  apt  to  flatter  themselves, 
for  their  superior  personal  prowess,  but.  because  their 
minds  being  merely  animal,  dictate  and  maintain  a  con- 
versation and  intercourse,  that  consoles  the  weaker  sex  for 
their  debasement  when  in  intercourse  with  intellectual 
minds  of  men.  Such  individuals  are  mere  animals,  with- 
out consciousness  as  without  thought,  and  seem  formed 
to  pass  through  life  like  the  brutes,  without  a  knowledge 
of  their  existence 

The  debased  state  of  intellect  in  women  is  caused  and 
perpetuated  by  the  tyranny  of  men,  who  force  them  to  a 
state  of  ignorance,  and  then  claim  a  right  to  command 
and  control  them  ;  there  is,  however,  a  quantity  of  life 
and  latent  intellect  in  their  constitution,  which,  when 
truth  shall  be  divested  of  all  clouds  of  sophistry,  and 
the  ingenious  invention  of  men,  they  will  see,  and  em- 
brace it  before  man,  as  they  possess  one  of  the  greatest 
human  attributes,  sympathy,  in  a  very  superior  degree  to 
man;  and  the  other  attribute,  probity,  a  very  small  pro- 
portion of  wisdom  would  procure;  and  until  women  are 
enabled  by  a  proper  education  to  cultivate  their  talent  or 
power  of  intellect,  and  by  custom  to  assume  their  equal- 
ity with  man,  it  will  be  impossible  to  bring  the  chaos  of 
the  moral  world  into  any  order  or  system. 

The  great  enemy  of  wisdom  is  that  absurd  dogma,  that 
truth  is  dangerous  to  be  taught  the  vulgar,  and  ignorance 
is  cultivated  in  order  to  procure  an  apology  for  error ;  and 
the  most  infamous  blasphemy  against  humanity  and  Na* 
ture,  is  propagated  by  this  detestable  aphorism. 

The  cause  of  motion  has  been  accurately  personified,, 
under  the  name  of  God,  with  various  attributes  to  form 
an  image  of  terror,  which  might  force  submission  to  er- 
ror ;  but  the  imagination  has,  through  its  own  lolly,  de- 


THE  ERRORS  AND  TERRORS  OF  SUPERSTITION.   103 

feated  that  purpose,  and  it  is  not  fear  that  produces  the 
whole  effect,  but  the  subject  being  of  much  intricacy  and 
importance,  occupies  the  thoughts,  and  prevents  their 
comprehending  the  proper  object,  man  himself. 

If  metaphysical  doctrines  had  not  been  invented,  and 
the  occupation  of  the  human  mind  entirely  taken  up  with 
their  investigation,  the  arts  and  sciences,  carried  to  the 
highest  degree  of  perfection,  would  not  have  furnished 
aliment  enough  for  the  voracious  appetite  of  the  human 
intellect,  and  the  knowledge  of  self,  or  theory  of  the  mo- 
ral system,  would  ages  ago  have  been  discovered  and 
reduced  to  practice. 

What  effect  has  this  fear  or  terror  of  God  upon  man, 
when  through  a  life  of  ignorance  he  violates  the  system 
of  Nature,  and  brings  misery  upon  self  as  its  centre  ? 
One  tear  dropped  upon  the  bed  of  dissolution  appeases 
the  anger  of  his  imaginary  deity.  But  what  is  the,  effect 
of  this  terror  upon  nations?  These  when  they  agitate 
with  the  dreadful  concussion  of  war,  the  holy  chain  of 
the  sympathy  of  Nature,  they  call  it  an  appeal  to  God, 
and  make  the  phantom  of  their  imagination  an  apology 
for  cruelty  and  destruction.  The  fact  is,  that  nations 
have  long  since  emancipated  collectively  the  human  mind 
from  all  metaphisical  absurdities  ;  and  if  they  treat  of 
them,  it  is  only  to  throw  a  tub  to  the  whale ;  to  divert 
the  attention  of  the  vulgar  from  the  miseries,  which  the 
vice  and  ignorance  of  the  great  and  rich  bring  upon  them 
by  subjugating  them  to  institutions,  calculated  to  enslave 
and  oppress  them. 

Under  all  the  various  forms  in  which  human  institu- 
tions have  organized  nations,  the  poor  have  been  ever  left 
a  prey  to  the  rich  ;  who,  in  proportion  to  the  sympathy 
they  possess,  have  rendered  them  happy  or  miserable. 
Laws,  if  properly  established,  would  no  doubt  procure 
them  relief;  but  the  rich,  who  make  the  laws,  wish  for 
no  alteration  ;  and  nothing  but  extreme  necessity,  brought 
about  by  insurrection,  can  compel  the  rich  to  such  an 
operation. 

The  rich  man  in  possession  of  abundance,  is  enabled 
20 


104  THE   INEQUALITIES    OF    SOCIETY. 

to  make  a  hard  bargain  with  the  poor  man,  whose  con- 
tract for  labor,  on  which  his  life  depends,  will  admit  of 
no  delay,  and  therefore  he  is  obliged  to  work  upon  terms 
dictated  by  the  rich,  influenced  only  by  the  humanity  or 
cruelty  of  his  will. 

()  England,  thou  nation  of  humanity  and  intellect !  I 
have  travelled  over  the  greatest  pait  of  the  world,  and 
have  seen  in  most  countries,  the  laborious  order  of  ani- 
mal matter,  whether  man  or  brute,  in  a  state  of  equi- 
poise between  inanition  and  existence,  owing  to  the  in- 
sensibility and  avarice  of  the  rich,  but  in  thy  happy  isl- 
and, the  peasant  and  his  horse,  though  their  labor  is  ex- 
cessive, yet  have  all  the  strength  and  comfort  which  ali- 
ment can  give  ;  and  intellect  rewards  the  humanity  of  the 
rich  by  an  increase  of  their  revenue. 

What  incredible  dupes  are  men  to  the  passion  of  ava- 
rice, which  drinks  the  blood  of  the  animals,  from  whose 
labor  its  treasures  are  drawn,  to  save  the  expence  of 
water. 

Lest  my  irretentive  memory  should  impose  repetition 
for  new  matter  upon  the  patience  of  my  readers,  I  shall 
sum  up  the  spirit  of  the  matter  contained  in  this  work  in 
the  following  concise  and  comprehensive  aphorisms, 
which  I  recommend  to  the  self-contemplation  of  my  read- 
ers, as  the  only  means  to  detect  the  truth  or  falsehood 
thereof;  vanity  in  personal  conversation,  as  well  as  in 
public  polemical  discussion,  being  an  insurmountable  ob- 
stacle to  all  impartial  investigation. 

The  operation  of  the  intellectual  faculties,  as  the  only 
intelligent  cause  of  moral  motion,  is  to  be  venerated, 
and  its  communication  held  sacred  in  the  plenitude  of 
liberty. 

ff  The  end  of  all  association  is  to  assure  the  execution 
of  the  defensive  volition  of  man,  and  to  restrain  the  of- 
fensive, as  the  causes  of  happiness  and  misery. 

Matter  is  indestructible  and  eternal,  revolving  through 
various  combinations,  animate  and  inanimate,  which  are 
its  accidents  to  convey  Jo  it  pain,  pleasure,  and  con- 
sciousness of  existence. 


APHORISMS-  OF  NATURE*  105 

Animate  matter,  in  possession  of  volition,  or  the  di- 
rection of  moral  motion,  forms  happy  identities  or  sta- 
ges, to  receive  inanimate  matter  in  time  present  and 
future. 

All  matter  is  in  an  incessant  state  of  inter-revolution, 
which  is  proved  by  aliment,  respiration,  and  perspiration. 

Identity  or  essence,  being  but  the  accident  of  matter 
in  combination,  holds  its  eternal  connection  with  Nature 
through  the  medium  of  indestructible  matter. 

The  beings,  I,  you,  and  they,  though  their  specific 
combination  of  identity  and  matter  separate,  are  eternal 
through  their  primary  and  indissoluble  connection  with 
Nature,  and  the  good  and  evil  which  our  volition  brings 
to  the  present  system  will  be  perpetuated  to  the  future 
renovation  of  that  connection. 

Recommending  the  consideration  of  these  important 
aphorisms  to  the  self-contemplation  of  my  readers,  and 
the  result  of  these  to  public  communication,  I  conclude 
these  speculations,  and  hope  that  the  virtuous  intention 
of  reducing  the  moral  chaos  to  system,  by  proving  the 
universal  connection  of  self  and  Nature,  will  apologise 
for  this  apparent  dogmatical  boldness,  and  conciliate  the 
temper  of  the  civilian,  the  learned,  arid  the  religionist, 
whom  sensitive  Nature  with  the  agonizing  groans  and 
lamentations  of  misery,  which  error  inflicts  upon  her, 
imprecates,  to  operate  with  the  whole  power  of  human 
intellect,  emancipated  from  the  tyranny  of  prejudice,  to 
relieve  it  from  its  universally  wretched  predicament. 


106         THE  REVELATION  OP  NATURE. 

INVOCATION   TO    SELF. 


LET  the  effulgence  of  thy  glorious  essence  open  in 
t  gleams,  and  net  in  the  fulness  of  its  splendor,  upon  my 
intellect,  lest  it  b«  confounded  or  destroyed.  The  glim- 
mering of  thy  majesty,  which  waned  in  the  "Rtevelation 
of  Nature,"  elevated  the  faculty  of  thought  beyond  the 
power  of  speech,  which  broke  out  in  faultering  expres- 
sions. But  this  approach  to  thy  sacred  presence,  over- 
whelms my  essence,  and  thought  becomes  as  inadequate 
to  conception,  as  speech  was  before  to  thought.  Oh ! 
aid  me  to  contemplate  so  much  of  thy  glimmering  light, 
as  the  essence  of  man  is  capable  of,  and  to  conform  into 
thought  and  expression  such  a  proportion,  as  being  com- 
municated, may  furnish  utility  to  existence. 

O  SELF  !  component  part  of  thy  great  integer,  NA- 
TURE— incomprehensible  in  thy  cause  and  essence — com- 
prehensible in  thy  ever-changing  modes  of  existence — 
comprehensible  in  thy  eternal  connection  with  Nature, 
which  all  the  powers  of  thought  cannot  separate — com- 
prehensible motion  in  the  volition  of  man — comprehensi- 
ble in  thought,  the  guide  and  guardian  of  that  volition,  t» 
direct  man  to  happiness,  or  to  procure  well  being  to  mat- 
ter in  its  eternal  revolution — comprehensible  in  sympa- 
thy, which  unites  the  various  links  of  beings  in  the  great 
chain  of  Nature. 

Arise  in  the  mind  of  man  in  all  the  ardor  of  thy  splen- 
dor— dissipate  the  clouds  of  creduli-ty — show  him,  that 
faith,  which  is  not  founded  on  the  conviction  of  the  sen- 
ses, is  folly,  thy  most  dangerous  enemy,  which  through 
so  many  ages  of  ignorance  has  induced  mankind  to  mis- 
trust thy  only  representative,  reason,  and  to  sacrifice  hap- 
piness by  rebellion  against  thy  beneficent  sovereignty. 

inspire  him  with  an  high  estimation  of  life  or  intellec- 
tual existence ;  the  happiest  period  in  the  eternal  revolu- 
tion of  matter,  which  may  have  rerolved  his  connection 


THE   VANITY    OF   LEARNING.  lt)7 

in  animal,  vegetable,  and  inanimate  orbits  for  millions  of 
ages,  before  it  arrives  at  intellectual  life.  Show  him  the 
importance  of  the  human  link  in  the  chain  of  Nature, 
that  it  conveys  the  electric  shock  of  pain  or  pleasure  to 
the  infinite  connected  links,  whose  extremes  uniting  in 
the  circle  of  eternity  make  him  participate  in  the  vibra- 
tions caused  by  his  action  or  motion. 

O  suffer  not  the  vanity  of  knowledge  to  triumph  over 
the  utility  of  wisdom,  by  placing  the  study  of  the  physi- 
cal before  that  of  the  intellectual  world !  Teach  man  that 
the  first  step  in  the  latter  towards  the  knowledge  of  thy 
essence,  is  as  much  elevated  above  the  highest  degree  of 
the  former,  as  the  heavens  are  [supposed  to  be]  above 
the  earth,  and  that  a  Newton  is  an  ^pe,  when  compared 
with  a  child  of  Nature,  or  worshipper  of  Self.  Expose 
to  man  the  folly  of  dogma  and  the  wisdom  of  doubt ; 
that  decision  is  at  all  times  an  avowal  that  reflection  is 
weak;  and  judgment  then  becomes  the  familiar  compan- 
ion of  the  volition,  and  resigns  its  sovereignty,  and  by 
this  abdication,  intellectual  sinks  into  animal  existence. 

Combat  the  vanity  of  erudition,  the  great  leader  of  thy 
enemies,  who,  with  the  dust  of  letters,  words  and  adopt- 
ed ideas,  envelope  the  glimmering  of  thy  benignant  light, 
and  torment  the  sight  of  those  who  are  watching  thy  ri- 
sing aurora  in  the  hemisphere  of  truth ;  confound  that 
technical  ingenuity  by  which  man  is  enabled  to  deceive 
himself,  and  show  that  simple  ignorance  is  wisdom,  when 
compared  with  the  folly  of  learned  error. 

While  learning's  phantoms  darken  all  the  sight, 
Blank  Ignorance  makes  way  for  genuine  light. 

Inspire  man  with  the  love  of  solitude  or  retirement, 
where  removed  from  the  factitious  wants  and  troubles  of 
civilization,  and  the  operation  of  the  intellectual  faculty 
or  thought,  being  sequestered  from  the  concerns  of  life 
which  would  suppress  it,  he  may  delight  in  the  peaceful 
contemplation  and  happy  adoration  of  thy  essence,  and 
arrive  through  the  only  medium  of  thought  to  intellectual 
existence,  and  an  enlightened  state  of  Nature* 
SO* 


108  INVOCATION   TO    SELF. 

Suffer  not  the  sacred  majesty  of  truth  to  be  dethroned 
by  the  vicious  and  chimerical  Idol  of  fear  and  error,  or 
superstition,  invented  to  pardon  the  vice  and  cruelly  of 
the  human  species  towards  themselves,  and  the  rest  of 
sensitive  creation,  and  therefore  protect  and  authorise  Vi- 
olence, which  thy  sacred  system  proscribes  as  being  tlie 
author  of  its  own  punishment.  This  imaginary  daemon 
(whose  attributes  and  actions  if  transferee!  to  man,  would 
form  a  monster,  that  the  resentment  of  humanity  would 
consign  to  punishment,  infamy  and  execration,)  has  long 
terrified  the  human  mind,  with  threats  of  lire  and  eternal 
torments;  and  has  caused  the  miscarriage  of  its  concep- 
tion, thought,  thy  holy  offspring,  the  saviour  of  all  sensi- 
tive Nature. 

O  hasten  to  procure  this  immaculate  conception, 
through  the  prolific  germ  of  the  light  of  reason  !  Guard 
thou  the  mind  from  all  terrors  of  demons  and  prejudices 
of  error,  lead  it  to  the  happy  parturition  of  thought  and 
expression,  that  this  benignant  offspring  of  reason  may 
become  like  a  true  messiah,  whose  glory  and  power  may 
precipitate  the  daemon  of  falsehood  into  the  abyss  of 
darkness  and  error,  whence  the  imagination  of  fools  or 
knaves  brought  it  forth. 

Open  to  the  mind  of  man,  the  centre  of  the  moral  sys- 
tem in  the  sacred  axiom;  Force  nottli.e  defensive  will  of 
sensitive  Nature  :  O  tea^-h  man  this  moral  longitude,  ex- 
pose to  him  this  source  of  moral  motion,  inspire  him 
with  wisdom  to  break  off  all  connection  with  the  brute 
creation,  whose  will  he  violates.  Having  no  [adequate] 
intelligence  of  their  wants  and  wishes,  he  must  be  the  cause 
of  great  pain  to  that  link  of  Nature,  wherein  his  own 
connection  is  preparing  to  enter  by  the  transformation  of 
his  matter  by  death,  from  intellectuality  to  animality. 

O  give  to  parents  wisdom,  to  assimilate  by  persuasion, 
and  not  to  force  the  will  of  children  by  violence  !  Teach 
them  the  importance  of  an  intellectual  being.  Show 
them  that  children  have  a  more  sacred  relation  than  that 
of  birth  ;  that  they  are  identities  or  ducts,  through  which 
an  indefinite  quantity  of  matter  passes,  to  enjoy  the 


THE   UNIVERSALITY   OF    SYMPATHY.  109 

consciousness  of  existence,  the  sensation  of  pleasure  ; 
that  this  forms  a  paramount  relation  between  it  and  Na- 
ture as  its  integer,  and  as  such,  is  to  be  adored,  revered, 
and  rendered  hnppy ;  which  can  only  be  done  by  holding 
its  defensive  will  sacred;  that  should  the  ignorant  being, 
man  or  brute,  form  an  offensive  will,  this  may  be  opposed 
either  by  violence  or  persuasion,  and  opposition  becomes 
a  non-electric  to  cut  off  the  communication  of  violence, 
lest  it  agitate  the  electric  chain  of  Nature. 

Break  down  the  entrenchments  of  error,  strengthened 
with  the  cement  of  specious  virtue,  measured  by  relative 
truth.  Show  man  that  filial  love  or  individual  love  of 
friendship  is  criminal,  if  social  is  sacrificed  thereto ;  that, 
social  love  is  criminal,  if  national  is  sacrificed  ;  that  na- 
tional is  criminal,  if  love  for  universal  man  is  sacrificed, 
and  philanthropy  is  criminal,  if  sympathy  for  all  sensitive 
Nature  is  sacrificed  ;  that  on  this  great  orbit  moves  the 
divinity  of  Self,  and  that  the  being,  whose  insensibility 
permits  him  to  inflict  pain  upon  the  most  insignificant  an- 
imal, is  a  monster  in  the  code  of  Nature,  and  the  whole 
scale  of  relative  virtues  are  but  vices,  which  act  as  non- 
electrics,  to  separate  his  communication  with  the  electri- 
cal chain  of  all  sensitive  Nature,  where  intellectual  ex- 
istence begins,  and  below  which,  all  is  mere  animal  ex- 
istence, however  distended  its  bubble  is  by  knowledge  or 
civilized  by  relative  virtue. 

Show  man  that  the  basis  of  the  moral  world  is  found- 
ed on  the  faculty  of  thought,  or  reason,  and  that  both  in- 
dividuals and  nations  measure  their  happines  by  its  extent, 
that  without  this  there  can  be  no  wisdom,  no  virtue,  no 
civilization.  The  operation  of  minds  divested  of  its  in- 
fluence may  alternately  produce  good  and  evil,  but  no- 
thing stable,  nothing  systematic,  nothing  universal. 

O  teach  man  to  cultivate  this  inestimable  faculty  of 
thought,  without  which,  the  actions  of  brutes  are  as  con- 
sequential as  those  of  men !  Establish  thy  holy  temple  on 
the  liberty  of  the  press,  and  though  knaves  and  fools  may 
unite  in  rebellion  against  thy  majesty,  lest  its  effulgence 
discover  the  atrocity  of  their  privacy,  thought,'  if  free  to 


110  INVOCATION  TO   SELF. 

act,  will  produce  partizans  of  virtue  to  uphold  thy  throne 
(whose  light  reflects  honor  on  their  actions  which  seek 
flo  concealment,)  to  triumph  over  the  rebellious  ignorance 
of  thoughtless  men.  Inspire  man  with  this  important 
truth,  that  the  mind  in  the  ratio  of  the  faculty  of  thought, 
forms  or  deforms  individual  or  social  government,  and 
approximates,  or  recedes  from  the  acme  of  human  es- 
sence, intellectual  existence  and  an  enlightened  state  of 
Nature.  O  guard  this  sacredsource  of  moral  perfection, 
increase  the  force  of  its  current,  which  knaves,  pedants, 
priests,  and  tyrants,  through  vice,  interest,  and  ambition, 
labor  to  contract ;  while  true  philosophers,  children  of 
Nature,  who  fear  not  the  benignant  torrent,  extend  its 
channel  to  convey  its  fertilizing  waters  to  the  great  shore 
of  all  sensitive  Nature,  whose  boundary  is  marked  by 
the  evidence  and  effulgence  of  thy  sacred  majesty  seated 
on  the  throne  of  reason  ! 

Come  forth  then,  thou  comprehensible  deity,  SELF,  let 
volition  give  all  its  energy  to  thought,  and  trampling 
down  the  cobweb  barriers  of  superstition  and  policy, 
force  thy  way  to  the  throne  of  reason;  and  with  the  ef- 
fulgent rays  of  thy  beneficent  sceptre,  call  forth  the  mo- 
ral world  from  the  chaos  of  darkness,  to  the  order  of  the 
system  in  the  manifestation  of  these  sacred  truths  ; 

Utility  is  virtue,  wisdom  is  happiness,  and  Self,  un- 
derstood, the  only  true  object  of  adoration  and  contem- 
plation. 

*  For  Self  and  Nature  link'd  in  one  great  frame, 

Shows  true  self-love  and  Nature  is  the  same. 

Eternal  matter  to  one  centre  brings, 

Men  chang'd  to  beasts  and  insects  chang'd  to  kings, 

Who  dares  with  force  on  Nature's  chain  to  strike, 

On  man  or  insect,  jars  the  chain  alike, 

On  Self,  which  changing,  never  quits  the  chain 

In  life  or  death,  transmits  or  joy  or  pain. 


THE  REVELATION  OP  NATURE.        Ill 


APPENDIX. 

\ 

HAVING,  I  hope,  proved  that  the  source  of  moral  mo- 
tion is  happiness  of  self,  understood  or  extended  to  the 
system  of  all  sensitive  Nature,  that  whatever  is  hurtful 
or  evil  to  Nature,  must  be  so  to  self,  and  the  reverse ;  I 
shall  endeavor  to  lay  down  the  moral  longitude,  that  may 
direct  the  progress  of  thought  in  its  operations,  to  arrive 
thereat. 

The  greatest  geniuses  among  mankind  have  hitherto 
confined  all  their  speculations  within  the  circle  of  ani- 
mal existence,  and  relative  truth  has  been  their  compass. 
The  "Revelation  of  Nature"  has  past  those  boundaries, 
and  opens  to  man  the  extensive  world  of  intellectual  life. 
The  compass  here  must  be  abstract  truth,  and  the  meas- 
ure of  longitude  the  defensive  will  of  all  sensitive  Nature. 
The  being  who  does  violence  to  an  insect,  navigates  with- 
out a  chart  or  compass,  and  must  be  shipwrecked  on  the 
shoals  of  animal  life.  He  may,  in  the  use  of  his  own 
defensive  will,  remove  or  destroy  the  insect,  if  it  con- 
tinues to  give  him  real  or  bodily  pain  ;  but  then  thought 
and  sympathy  must  have  in  view  the  utility  of  all  Nature, 
and  violence  must  be  proportioned  to  a  strict  necessity, 
and  that,  with  extreme  regret  and  pain  to  the  agent.  By 
this  moderation,  sympathy  will  be  preserved,  and  the  chain 
of  Nature  will  receive  no  vibration  from  the  dissolution 
or  change  of  any  particular  link,  whose  animality  or  ig- 
norance disturbed  the  happiness  of  the  most  sensitive 
part  of  Nature.  This  moderation  is  opposed  by  relative 
truth  in  animal  existence,  because  sympathy  would  be- 
come the  victim  of  its  own  virtue.  But  in  a  state  of  in- 
tellectual existence,  virtue,  or  sympathy  and  probity,  seeks 
no  defence  in  personal  violence  (except  in  the  extreme 
necessity  above  mentioned)  but  by  infusing  its  influence 
into  the  enemy  of  self  and  Nature,  and  thereby  assimila- 
ting his  will  and  changing  his  vicious  qualities. 

While  mankind  remain  in  a  state  of  animal  existence, 


THE   REVELATION   OY   NATURE. 

furiously  agitated  in  the  vortex  of  passions,  the  best  form 
of  government  must  be  that  which  restrains  the  will,  and 
liberates  or  augments  thought,  as  is  the  case  with  Eng- 
land ;  for  it  depends  upon  the  people  or  juries,  who  are 
the  guardians  of  the  liberty  of  the  press,  to  extend  or 
contract  its  powers.  A  verdict  lately  given  in  Ireland, 
has  done  more  essential  service  to  humanity,  than  the 
Revolution  in  France,  which  has  prematurely  taken  off 
the  shackles  from  the  passions;  whereas  the  Irish  have 
taken  off  the  shackles  from  reason,  and  leave  them  on 
the  will,  till  wisdom  shall  bring  man  from  the  nonage  of 
error  and  prejudice,  to  the  majority  or  adult  age  of  reason 
and  truth. 

The  present  state  of  civilization  has  so  augmented  the 
factitious  wants  and  passions  of  men,  that  self  is  there- 
by contracted  into  a  point,  and  has  scarce  centrifugal 
force  enough  to  reach  the  orbit  of  relatives  or  friends. 
What  a  distance  between  this  narrow  circle  and  the  im- 
mense one  of  all  sensitive  Nature !  Thought,  however,  if 
free  to  operate  and  promulgate  itself,  cannot  fail  to  ex- 
tend the  elasticity  of  essence  to  the  boundary  of  intel- 
lectual existence,  however  compressed  by  the  energy  of 
the  passions ;  and  should  France  preserve  social  tran- 
quillity for  even  the  space  of  five  years,  there  will  be  such 
a  collision  of  thought  and  communication  of  ideas  with 
England,  as  will  strike  out  sparks  of  truth,  enough  to 
illumined  the  whole  world,  and  bring  man  to  intellectual 
existence  and  an  enlightened  state  of  Nature. 

I  have  found  it  impossible  in  the  foregoing  work,  to 
form  any  other  chart  for  the  vessel  of  humanity  to  ap- 
proach the  beacon  of  abstract  truth,  but  by  the  simple 
line  of  thought  and  reflection,  which  operates  like  the 
seed,  whose  progress  to  the  state  of  a  plant  cannot  be 
described,  and  whose  directory  is  contained  in  the  word 
d'i*>3'~m  nate,  as  is  the  moral  directory  in  the  word  think; 
foi  in  every  part  of  the  globe  I  find  men  in  possession  of 
conscious  happiness  in  proportion  to  the  faculty  of 
thought ;  and  though  the  indications  of  joy  are  more  fre- 
quent among  animal  men,  yet  one  moment  of  conscious 


THE   MOTIVES    OF   THE    AUTHOR.  115 

is  worth  a  century  of  animal  existence,  which  diffuses  in- 
ternal, perpetual,  and  inexpressible  peace  and  happiness, 
and  elevates  the  intellectual  being  as  much  above  the  an- 
imal, as  that  is  above  the  vegetable. 

I  must  deprecate  humanity  to  consider  the  ideas  in  the 
foregoing  work  to  have  been  the  pure  operation  of  thought, 
agitated  with  the  sufferings  of  all  sensitive  Nature.  I 
have  endeavored,  through  great  danger,  difficulty  and  suf- 
fering, to  study  by  travelling  the  sources  of  good  and  ill. 
If,  by  exposing  tbem,  I  have  offended  the  prejudices  of  in- 
dividuals and  nations,  it  was  from  the  same  motive  that 
the  surgeon  torments  his  patients, — only  to  heal  their 
wounds.  I  never  had  but  one  enemy  in  the  world  ;  he 
attempted  my  life ;  I  both  forgave  him  and  pitied  him. 
Good  men  must  be  happy,  and  bad  men  miserable,  and 
the  former  ran  never  suffer  resentment  to  augment  the 
misery  of  the  latter;  they  will  pity  the  victims  of  ignor- 
ance, and  endeavor  to  remove  this  universal  cause  of 
universal  ill,  by  disseminating  thought  and  reflection,  the 
parent  of  wisdom  and  happiness. 

I  disclaim  the  appropriation  of  ideas,  and  therefore 
have  not  put  my  name  to  this  work  :  they  can  gain  nei- 
ther credit  or  discredit  from  the  author,  and  he  seeks  no 
reward  or  praise,  but  what  arises  from  the  consciousness 
of  good  intent.  They  are  texts  or  themes  for  the  exer* 
citation  of  the  mental  faculties  on  a  more  extensive  ami 
important  sphere  than  has  hitherto  been  presented  to  the 
mind  of  man,  and  should  they  be  the  means  of  extending 
its  powers  through  the  faculty  of  thought  and  reflection, 
thdse  few  philanthropic  pages  will  be  crowned  with  abun- 
dant success,  and  the  labor  of  their  author  most  amph 
rewarded. 

Before  I  conclude,  I  must  again  consider  an  event  (th« 
Revolution  in  France)  where  man  has  passed  the  Rubi- 
con of  relative  truth,  and  must  press  straight  forward  10 
the  source  of  moral  motion  or  knowledge  of  self;  for 
should  it  turn  aside  by  one  oblique  step  of  temporizing 
policy,  to  contend  with,  or  imitate  other  nations,  it  wii.' 
lose  its  equipoise  upon  the  delicate  line  of  right,  which 


114         THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE. 

leads  thereto,  and  fall  into  anarchy,  and  from  thence  into 
an  abyss  of  despotism.  The  poor  must  be  conscien- 
tiously and  comfortably  provided  with  subsistence,  lest 
their  frequent  appearance  and  neglected  supplications  ia 
public  streets,  should  paralyse  the  fine  sympathy  of  man. 
How  many  thousands  in  the  streets  of  London  and  Paris 
contract  into  the  narrow  sphere  of  animal  existence,  by 
a  habit  of  refusing  aid  to  supplicating  fellow-creatures  in 
distress.  Probity  must  be  guarded  by  reforming  the 
chicanery  and  dupery  of  commerce.  Means  must  be 
discovered  to  prevent  adulteration  of  specie,  whose  falsi- 
ty is  a  dreadful  enemy  to  probity;  and  a  bad  shilling  re- 
ceived, which  casuistry  justifies  the  passing  into  the  hand 
of  another  whom  we  cheat,  introduces  corruption  into  a 
heart,  whose  integrity  would  be  otherwise  impregnable.* 
Personal  vanity  must  be  humbled — thought  and  speech 
must  be  absolutely  free,  and  no  man  must  be  permitted 
to  murder  a  fellow  creature  for  offensive  sentiments. 
Calumny,  when  rendered  public,  will  always  be  detected* 
An  innocent  man  may  feel  a  temporary  injury,  but  con- 
science will  in  the  end  triumph,  and  the  approaches  to 
thought,  the  source  of  intellectual  life,  must  be  cleared 
of  all  terror  and  impediment.  To  this  source  the  French 
nation  must  proceed  in  a  straigSjt  line,  and  take  large 
draughts  of  its  stream  to  enable  them  to  proceed,  and  to 
detect  vice  under  the  mask  of  virtue.  Virtue  and  merit, 
in  an  acquaintance,  must  not  be  sacrificed  to  the  selfish 
partiality  of  friendship.  .Principles  of  sympathy  and  pro- 
bity must  not  be  sacrificed  to  dissipated  and  thoughtless. 
liberality.  Pure  benevolence,  and  not  bartered  gratitude, 
must  be  the  only  motive  of  beneficence  ;  and  love  itself 
must  expand  into  the  great  circle  of  all  sensitive  Nature, 
leaving  the  grosser  parts  or  dregs  to  the  commerce  of 
pleasure,  and  joining  friendship  to  those  passions,  which 

*  This  is  most  lamentably  exemplified  in  England,  where  the  de- 
basement of  the  coin  is  become  a  tolerated  profession,  and  has 
done  more  'injury  to  the  morality  of  this  country  in  a  few  years, 
than  the  baneful  effects  of  luxury  would  do  in  a  century 


THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE.        115 

in  proportion  as  they  in  animal  existence  are  able  to  con- 
tract the  essence  of  self  to  a  narrow  circle,  are  changed 
by  intellectual  existence  into  the  unison  of  sympathy 
ami  probity,  the  only  laws  of  motion,  upholding  the  mo- 
ral system,  which  the  conventional  virtues  and  customs 
of  civilization  tend  to  destroy,  by  cutting  off  the  com- 
munication between  self  and  sensitive  Nature,  by  th% 
partial  duties  of  friend,  parent,  and  citizen,  or  the  boun- 
daries of  seas  and  mountains ;  and  thus  confine  intellec- 
tual beings  within  the  limits  of  sheep.  But  thought 
breaks  down  these  animal  barriers,  and  expands  self  into 
the  union  with  its  integer  Nature. 

That  political  energy  which  the  active  and  unjust  poli- 
cy of  nations  demands,  France  must  totally  lose,  anc| 
defence  will  rest  in  virtue  (or  sympathy  and  probity): 
which  will  intellectualize  those  animal  monsters,  called 
conquerors,  that,  may  attempt  to  subdue  them,  and  having' 
had  the  glory  to  cast  the  pebble  of  truth  into  the  lake  of 
humanity,  their  locality  will  feel  the  most  violent  agita- 
tions for  a  while,  and  will  then  spread  into  those  softer 
undulations,  which  will  reach  from  the  centre  self  to  the 
shore  of  all  sensitive  Nature,  to  propel  the  vessel  of  life 
to  the  harbor  of  intellectual  existence  arid  an  enlightened 
state  of  Nature. 

I  could  not  close  my  book  till  I  had  added  some  further 
considerations  of  the  all  of  virtue,  SYMPATHY. 

Sympathy  is  the  gravitation  of  the  moral  system,  and 
men,  in  proportion  as  their  essence  contains  less  or  more, 
become  meteors  agitated  by  every  blast  of  passion,  or  in- 
tellectualized  bodies,  moving  with  its  density  in  the  vir- 
tuous and  stable  orbit  of  society,  comprehending  all  sen 
sitive  Nature. 

In  a  high  state  of  animation  or  sensibility,  divested  of 
reason,  as  it  is  found  in  some  characters  among  the  Eng- 
lish, Irish,  and  Malay  nations,  Sympathy  changes  its 
nature  and  delights  in  the  suffering,  of  sensitive  creatures. 

I  shall  endeavor  to  trace  the  cause  of  this  moral  phe- 
nomenon. I  find  in  the  first  instance  a  great  conformity 
between  these  nations  in  the  customs  of  tormenting  ani- 


116         THE  PERVERSION  OF  SYMPATHY. 

maU.  The  fir$t  and  second  are  equally  delighted  with 
the  cruelty  of  the  chase,  running  horses  to  death  in  ra- 
cing and  travelling,  buli-baiiing,  cock-fighting,  &c.  The 
Malay  nation  has  no  other  diversion  hut  rock  fighting, 
which  occupies  the  whole  of  their  leisure  hours  ;  by  these 
diversions  the  sensations  of  Sympathy  are  totally  sup- 
pressed. Self  is  connected  into  a  point,  and  its  link  in 
the  chain  of  Nature  feels  no  vibration,  from  even  the 
most  approximate  parts;  hence,  in  the  two  former  n a- 
tions,  those  frequent  personal  assaults,  in  which  the  finer 
feelings  of  Sympathy  are  sacrificed  to  the  vanity  of  an 
hypocritical  reputation,  which  they  have  esteem  for,  only 
$s  it  is  profitable,  but  have  no  consciousness  to  enjoy  or 
Discover,  that  true  virtue  consists  in  Sympathy — 'the  cen- 
tre and  circumference  of  all  that  is  good.  Nature  has 
singled  out  these  countries  to  produce  the  most  extraor- 
dinary productions  of  vice  and  infamy.  England  has 
lately  given  birth  to  a  monster,  who  singled  out  the  most 
beautiful  and  best  works  of  Nature,  handsome,  innocent 
women,  who  wantonly  stabbed  several  in  their  thighs  to 
gratify  an  infernal  passion  of  seeing  the  blood  run,  and 
hearing  the  groans  and  agonies  of  hiir  and  innocent  vic- 
tims. Ireland  sent  forth  an  assassin  to  murder  a  philo- 
sopher who  had  dared  to  censure  the  vice  of  that  island  ; 
and  with  a  head  as  depraved  as  his  heart,  the  ruffian  by 
that  atrocious  intent  to  crush  the  germ  of  happiness  by 
extinguishing  the  light  of  thought,  confirmed  the  testimo- 
ny he  intended  to  confute.  Malacca  produces  monsters 
on  purpose,  one  would  think,  to  avenge  the  cause  of 
Sympathy,  for  the  death  of  one  cock  in  battle  bringing 
despair  upon  the  owner,  urges  him  to  draw  his  dagger, 
and  destroy  promiscuously  every  one  within  his  reach. 
»  Personal  assaults,  duelling  and  boxing  are  become  so  com- 
mon in  England  and  Ireland,  that  if  the  laws  do  not  immedi- 
ately extend  the  arm  of  protection  to  innocent  and  sym- 
pathetic minds,  they  must  emigrate  to  the  continent  to 
claim  from  tyranny  an  asylum  against  the  ferocious  des- 
potism of  individuals ;  and  to  enjoy  a  greater  personal 
security  than  lawless  liberty  can  afford;  and  I  am  in- 


THE   REVMLATIOar    OP    NATURE.  11? 

duced  to  think  that  the  residence  of  many  English  in  fo 
reign  countries  is  caused  by  .such  reflections  ;  for  who- 
ever has  travelled  into  foreign  countries  as  an  observer, 
must  be  sensible  of  the  great  contrast  between  their 
peaceful  manners  and  the  turbulence  of  England. 

These  observations  will  tend  to  show  the  necessity 
not  only  of  refraining  from  violence,  but  of  breaking  on 
all  connection  with  the  brute  creation ;  as  they  cannot 
explain  the  pain  which  their  loss  of  liberty  may  cause, 
and  as  our  own  connections  may  shortly  assume  those 
links  in  the  chain  of  existence,  and  man  would  also  gain 
by  assuming  their  labor.  The  vortex  of  industry  would 
be  moderated,  and  labor  become  less ;  great  cities,  the 
cause  of  much  moral  and  physical  evil,  would  be  changed 
into  happy  villages;  exercise  would  procure  health  of 
body ;  repose  and  content, — -peace  of  mind ;  and  sym- 
pathy being  cultivated  and  established,  would  fix  the  cen- 
tre of  the  moral  world  upon  the  most  sacred  Law  of 
Nature  :  FORCE  NOT  THE  DEFENSIVE  WILL  OF  ANY  PART 

OF    SENSITIVE    NATURE. 

To  CONCLUDE,  I  must  conjure  my  readers  to  consider 
the  sentiments  contained  in  these  pages,  not  as  proceed- 
ing from  passion  or  partiality.  I  have  censured  most, 
those  nations  whose  individuals  I  most  love,  and  with 
whom  I  most  live ;  I  mean  the  Irish  and  the  French, 
whose  urbanity,  facility,  joyous  and  liberal  characters, 
are  as  pleasing  and  necessary  to  society,  as  the  joys  of  sex- 
ual love  are  to  animal  existence.  Not  so  the  moroseness 
and  spleen  of  the  English,  whose  thought,  however  pow- 
erful, if  not  directed  by  wisdom,  may  claim  esteem,  as  it 
shows  human  nature  in  a  progress  to  intellectuality,  but 
does  not  seduce  my  love,  though  it  obtains  all  my  ad  mi-- 
ration  and  praise.  I  must  entreat  my  readers  to  cotisidec 
these  sentiments,  as  not  coming  from  the  brain  of  a 
ministerial  hireling,  who  prostitutes  his  pen  to  parties — 
a  famished  author  who  writes  to  live — a  poet  who  writes 
for  fame — a  religionist  who  writes  from  enthusiasm — a 
dogmatist  who  writes  from  the  pride  of  erudition  ;  but  to 
respect  and  examine  them  as  the  holy  emanations  of 


118  THE   DIVINITY   OF  THOUGHT. 

thought,  from  an  intellectual  atom  struggling  to  discover 
the  source,  or  centre  of  well-being  or  happiness,  an<J 
conscious  of  being  an  inseparable  part  of  an  eternal 
whole,  or  Nature,  and  who  though  ceasing  to  be  man,  yet 
Cannot  cease  to  be,  regards  Thought  as  the  true  and  com- 
prehensible deity  ;  and  the  sanctity  of  defensive  volition, 
as  incontrovertible  religion,  whose  ritual  is  persuasion, 
to  effect  union,  when  the  happiness  of  associated  beings 
demands  it,  which  the  mind  in  a  state  of  intellectuality 
must  assent  to  as  the  only  means  of  producing  happiness 
to  self  as  the  centre  of  the  system  of  all  sensitive  Na- 
ture ;  and  in  this  union,  pain  inflicted  on  the  circumfer- 
ence affects  the  centre,  as  much  as  the  pain  of  the  toe 
affects  every  other  part  of  the  human  body. 

Adore  then,  O  fellow  selves !  immortal  parts  of  im- 
mortal Nature,  the  divinity  of  Thought;  and  though  its 
issue  in  the  mouth  of  man  may  irritate  pride,  vanity  and 
vice,  it  can  never  injure  conscious  innocence  or  real  vir- 
tue. Rebel  not  against  the  majesty  of  this  omnipotent 
sovereign  of  happiness  and  well-being,  oy  inflicting  per- 
sonal violence  to  avenge  verbal  insult.*  The  issue  of 
thought  in  opprobious  language  directed  towards  an  ob- 
ject whose  actions  are  virtuous  and  good,  recoils  upon 
its  own  source.  Adore  the  sacred  and  comprehensible 
divinity  of  Thought,  by  establishing  such  humane  asso- 
ciations and  f  institutions  as  may  be  a  mild  guardian  to 
the  volition,  or  a  liberal  substitute  for  weak  judgment, 
till  by  the  free  cultivation  and  communication  of  ideas, 
man  arrives  at  Intellectual  Existence  and  an  Enlightened 
State  of  Nature. 

*  Individual  avarice  is  no  less  repugnant  to  public  prosperity,  in 
evading  the  payment  of  taxes,  than  individual  vice  or  vanity  is 
repugnant  to  the  progress  of  social  and  moral  perfection,  insa- 
crificii.g  the  liberty  of  the  press,  or  of  speech,  to  private  repu- 
tation 

f  Whoever  takes  a  comprehensive  and  relative  view  of  the  cor- 
rupt state  of  nations  and  individuals,  caused  by  factitious  wants, 
and  incapacity  of  judgment,  will  have  reason  to  congratulate  the 


THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE.        119 

THOUGHTS  ON  GOVERNMENT. 

How  reluctant  I  feel  to  close  this  inerudite  develope- 
ment  of  the  most  important  and  useful  ideas  the  press 
has  ever  presented  to  the  discusion  and  contemplation  of 
man  !  The  present  state  of  civil  commotions  demands 
urgently,  from  every  thinking  being,  the  whole  scope  of 
thought  and  reflection,  to  discover  a  happy  basis,  and 
fixed  principles  of  civil  union. 

Ignorance  being  the  cause  of  all  moral  evil,  and  there- 
fore the  universal  enemy  of  mankind,  the  end  of  all  union 
must  be  to  combat  this  monster.  This  can  only  be  done 
by  assembling  the  different  particles  of  wisdom  and  vir- 
tue, that  may  be  found  in  a  state,  to  restrain  the  liberty 
and  violence  of  passions  in  the  ignorant  and  vicious  part 
thereof,  in  the  same  manner  as  mental  government  is 
formed  in  an  individual,  whose  liberty  is  relaxed  in  pro- 
portion to  his  discretion,  and  parental  authority  ceases 
with  the  maturity  of  judgment,  whose  development  is 
cultivated,  hut  never  restrained.  If  the  volition  of  the 
child,  or  ignorant  citizen,  is  restrained,  judgment  is 
trampled  upon,  and  passion  leads  on  to  personal  and  civil 
misery,  to  which  no  remedy  can  be  applied,  but  abso- 
lute and  despotic  restraint. 

The  British  government,  if  critically  examined,  will 
corroborate  and  elucidate  these  reflections.  We  find  the 
constitution  in  the  hands  of  a  select  body  of  citizens, 
who  living  for  the  most  part  upon  the  produce  of  their 
estates,  are  exempted  from  the  temptation  of  necessary 
wants,  which  commercial  people  being  exposed  to,  can- 
not possess  those  sentiments  of  rectitude  and  indepen- 
dence, that  are  necessary  for  the  administration  of  public 

English  nation  upon  the  perfection  of  its  government,  which 
seems  calculated  to  effect  the  sacred  end  of  moral  perfection, 
and  cannot  be  endangered  by  a  gradual  and  partial  reform,  con- 
ducted by  men  of  virtue  and  wisdom,  who  alone  can  merit  or  ac- 
quire the  confidence  of 'their  fellow  citizens. 


120  THE   BRITISH    CONSTITUTION. 

affair*  ;  though  factitious  wants  and  passions  may  lead 
the  gentleman  to  succumb  to  temptation,  yet,  as  the  lat- 
ter wants  are  not  so  imperious  as  those  of  necessity,  ten 
tradesmen  would  be  victims  for  one  gentleman. 

Thus  men  of  independent  fortunes,  whose  education 
ind  habits  of  life  give  them  more  wisdom  and  virtue,  are 
delegated  legislative  guardians  of  a  constitution,  to  re- 
strain the  actions  and  passions  of  the  great  body  of  the 
people,  whose  necessities  leave  no  time  for  the  acquisi- 
tion of  wisdom,  and  no  means  of  practising  rectitude 
and  independence.  These,  however,  are  left  in  full  pos- 
session of  the  absolute  liberty  of  thought  and  its  com- 
munication ;  and  if  the  liberty  of  the  press  has  been  at 
any  time  violated  by  the  arbitrary  decision  of  wicked 
and  ignorant  judges,  it  was  owing  to  the  ignorance  of  the 
people,  in  giving  up  this,  the  most  sacred  principle  in  all 
civil  institutions  : 

NOTHING  CAN  BE    LIBELLOUS    BUT  FALSEHOOD,    AND 

EVEN  FALSEHOOD  IS  NOT  CRIMINAL,  IF  PROVED  TO  BE 
ERROR  OF  OPINION. 

In  treating  of  all  matters,  where  the  paramount  inter- 
est of  society,  Humanity,  or  all  sensitive  Nature  is  con- 
cerned, the  government  of  England,  founded  upon  these 
principles,  is  the  most  exquisite  workmanship  of  human 
reason,  above  all  others  adapted  to  approximate  the  bea- 
con of  speculative  truth,  with  a  practice  suitable  to  the 
present  state  of  policy  and  morality,  tending  to  augment 
the  volition  in  the  ratio  of  the  increase  of  judgment,  the 
only  secure  process  to  moral  and  social  perfection. 

Whoever  hat*  travelled  much  on  the  Continent,  with  a 
small  share  of  observation  and  penetration,  must  have 
remarked  the  little  difference  of  moral  excellence  between 
the  Titled  noble  and  the  degraded  peasant,  and  except  the 
powder  in  the  hair,  the  contortions  of  the  countenance, 
'and  affected  gestures  of  the  body,  Excellenza  of  Italy, 
Margrave  of  Germany,  and  Marquis  of  France,  would 
have  no  mark  of  discrimination  from  the  People,  but  their 
titles.  They  speak  in  the  same  language  tor  want  of 
education ;  treat  upon  the  same  principles  for  want  of 


THK    iUPCKIORITT    OK    PRINCIPLE.  121 

integrity,  and  hold  the  same  Ktntiments  for  want  of 
thought ;  civil  and  military  ttuhordinalion  itt  upheld  by 
the  single  thread  of  a  tyrant,  and  if  an  insurrection  of  the 
people  should  cut  it,  tiocie.ty  is  thrown  into  the  same  con- 
fusion as  pearls  from  a  broken  necklace,  and  having  no 
confidence,  which  can  arise  only  from  moral  excellence, 
they  remain  in  this  state  till  some  neighboring  despot 
sweeps  them  into  the  gulph  of  tyranny. 

In  England  alone  thtrt  is  an  evident  moral  excellence 
paramount  to  title.  The  soldier  is  very  inferior  to  his 
officer,  and  the  subject  to  the  peer,  in  education,  senti- 
ment and  thought.  Hence  that  civil  and  military  subor- 
dination, the  effect  of  respect,  and  not  the  fear  of  law, 
which  enables,  by  its  discipline,  the  union  of  society  in 
the  silken  bonds  of  liberty,  to  triumph  over  the  chain- 
bound  subjects  of  tyrants,  and  has  enabled  Britain,  with 
ten  millions  of  people,  to  triumph  over  almost  all  the 
globe  contending  in  arms  against  her.  It  is  this  moral 
excellence  that  guards  her  constitution  against  the  insidi- 
ors  designs  of  libertine  patriots,  who  seek  to  remedy 
the  derangements  of  their  private  affairs,  (brought  on  by 
thoughtlessness  and  dissipation,)  by  reforming  and  im- 
proving the  economy  of  society,  whose  system  and  ad- 
ministration demand  the  most  profound  reasoning,  and 
extensive  faculty  of  thought,  to  direct  the  public  volition 
to  the  goal  of  prosperity. 

O  Britons !  worship  with  ardor  this  comprehensible 
Deity,  Thought,  that  by  extending  its  influence  and  in- 
spiration, your  characteristic  spleen  and  moroscness  may 
be  changed  into  complacency,  liberality,  and  toleration, 
that  proselytes  may  be  induced  to  approach  its  shrine, 
and  quit  the  fleeting  uncertain  joys  of  animal,  for  the 
conscious  and  permanent  happiness  of  intellectual  ex- 
istence ;  for  which  glorious  end,  thought  has  established 
its  inceptive  dominion  in  this  island,  to  guard  against  the 
dangerous  encroachments  of  insidious  customs  and  po- 
licy, which  pervade  a  continent,  and  whose  situation  is 
incompatible  with  the  safety  of  thy  empire. 


122         THE  REVELATION  OP  NATURE. 

0  THOUGHT!  Great  first  cause  wnere  comprehension 
.    meets   incomprehensibility ;  Author   of  all   moral   good 

and  ill  ;  Intelligent  cause  of  motion,  develope  thyself  in 
the  effulgent  benevolence  of  thy  essence ;  guide  man  to 
the  acme  of  existence,  through  thy  culture  in  the  religion 
.       of  Nature;  endue  him  with  that  strength  of  wisdom,  to 
.adjust  the   liberty  of  volition,   to 'the  augmentation  of 
judgment;  spread  thy  benignant  grace  over  all  the  world, 
to  regenerate  -  man  to  intellectual  existence,  and   estab- 
lish the   moral. system  of  self  and    sensitive    Nature  in 
.  place  of  the  chaos  of  ignorance,  and   the  civilization  of 
animal  existence.     Take    under   thy  peculiar  protection 
the  liberty  of  the  press,  and  inspire  jurymen  with  so  holy 

,  a  respect  for  thy  divinity,  that  though  the  ardor  of  thy 
glorious  rays,  collected  by  error,  may  burn,  the  benignity 

,  of  thy  nature  cannot  be  impeached  ;  and  action,  the  re- 
sult of  ..malicious  error,  may  alone  be  condemned  and 
punished. 

1  must  admonish  my  readers  not  to  confound  the  doc- 
trine of  the  eternity  of  existence  under  different  modes  of 
irter-revolution,  with  the  Pythagorean  doctrine  of  trans- 
migration of  spirit,  or  specific  change  of  mode  into  mode, 
thereby  confounding  true  principles,  and  leading  the  mind 
into  ignorance  and  error,  by  pretending  to  develope  and 
explain  the  process  and  connection  of  cause  and  effect. 
The  doctrine  of  the  former,  teaches  the  indestructibility 
of  the  whole  or  any  part  of  Nature.     That  matter  which 
upon  dissolution  ceases  to  be  man,  does   not   cease   to 
exist,  but   flows  into  the  ocean  of  matter,  to  form   new. 
entities,  and  without  disclosing  the  mode  of   the  process 
or  manifesting  any  specific  identity,  is  like  the  river  which 
flows  into  the  ocean  and  may  become,  portions  of  rivers 
again ;  this   idea  ought   to   be  consolatory,  and  encour- 
aging to  men  to  abstain  from  violence,  the  author  of  all 
evil   in  the  Ocean   of  Nature,  whose  waters  calmed  or 
troubled  by  man's  wisdom  or  ignorance  in  a  state  of  in- 
tellectuality, conveys  with   the  undulations   of  oain  and' 
pleasure  his  changeable  existence  to  all  eternity . 

END  OF  THE  REVELATION  OF  NATURE, 

-  /rt4&***j      •...?  &S  (/irftr*/ {M-&&1& 

*£*>&*£     '/'//.  •  /i*-<j8ib:  *>r  •  •  '  s-  * 
'(£.  /?./  tst*  I 

,  ~      •       / 


14  DAY  USE 

DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Lenewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


REC'U 

2  5 '65 - 


LD  21A-60?n-3  '65 
(F2336slO)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


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